The sports industry is saturated in advertising.
There’s been rumours a plenty among hockey fans in the USA that advertisements on jerseys (and apparently glowing pucks) could be just a couple of years away for the National Hockey League.
This revelation has caused quite the stir, with many stating how they are against such an idea.
Which brings about the question, should business companies be allowed to have their advertisements spread across a sports jersey, all in the name of marketing?
A sports jersey is a representation of a team and a nation. It is unique, and holds a special bond for the players wearing it and the team they play for no matter what sport is involved.
Businesses are aware they can make a lot of money for themselves by being involved with sports from the amateur level right through to the professional level. To make an impact they’ve thus employed clever marketing ploys along the way.
Sports fans, in some respects, can be easily manipulated. Their obsession with a sports team allows them to be so blinded by their dedication they will to do anything to became part of that world. Seeing as everyone in this day and age is a sports fans, businesses see a lot of potential dollars in investing in sports, hence paying for corporate boxes, naming rights and general advertising.
We see kids wanting to buy into something ‘new’ because their favourite player was seen using it, and companies promising over the top cheap deals because they are associated with a team.
It’s fine if they want to be the naming rights sponsor to a team, or a stadium, but on the jersey? We’ve seen how AIG has established itself with the All Blacks. Many were not too thrilled by such blatant advertising from the company considering how special and sacred the All Blacks jersey is.
In the NHL in the USA and Canada it’s already a mouthful for commentators to mention the sponsor of a replay, a power play and even when naming the Three Stars of the game. In rugby league, there’s so much advertising all over the jersey and shorts that no one really knows what the team colours are these days.
Most sports in America have so far avoided the jersey advertising leeches compared to the rest of the world and that is what makes it a valued product.
Everywhere we look business advertising has a stake in sports, and despite all the money it can inject into sports, it’s become so overwhelming and over the top it is now difficult to distinguish where marketing ends and sport begins.
Linedropout
Roar Pro
a different code.
mushi
Guest
But if marketing space decreases league wide who would be the club or team that they trot off to?
Linedropout
Roar Pro
You say "We see kids wanting to buy into something ‘new’ because their favourite player was seen using it..." If marketing space decreased (and subsequently the money a team has), these kids wouldn't see their favourite player because, more often than not, he/she'd be playing for a club/team that can afford them through sponsorship. As you indicated: 'you understand the need for it in professional sport', so surely you also understand that it won't go away. Using overseas codes as a benchmark is chalk and cheese to me - if Australian franchises were as cashed up, they would also be able to get rid of jersey sponsorship.
Peeeko
Guest
Agree Sheek, commentators calling them the qantas wallabies makes me squeamish
Victoria Liu-Pearson
Roar Guru
Very true sheek
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
"While I don’t disagree with the overall sentiment of your comments, the problem is that sports completely concede just about everything. " if that keeps my team alive then I will take the money- I would rather see them on the field and competative in logo covered jerseys than broke in clean skin jerseys why care if anz stadium is anz stadium - are the views of the game worse under that name as opposed to stadium Aus and the same goes for the other examples.
sheek
Roar Guru
Craig, While I don't disagree with the overall sentiment of your comments, the problem is that sports completely concede just about everything. It's like weak/lazy parents who fail to indicate acceptable boundaries of behaviour for their kids. Give a sponsor an inch, & pretty soon they'll want the whole mile. It's great having Qantas as a major sponsor of Australian rugby. It's NOT okay for the national team to be called Qantas Wallabies. It's great for Stadium Australia to be sponsored by ANZ. It's NOT okay for the identity of the ground to be lost in ANZ Stadium. It's great for one of our best horse races - the Tancred Stakes - to be sponsored by BMW. It's NOT okay for the identification of the race to be totally lost as The BMW. It's great that sporting clubs have several sponsors. It's NOT okay that the sponsorship almost totally obscures the traditional colours of the club. So we end up with a situation that might be to the satisfaction of the sponsors, but is barely tolerable to anyone else. And there's a lot of "anyone else." We, society, are lumbered with this situation because we can't be bothered speaking up against it, even though a majority of us find it intrusive & intolerable.
Victoria Liu-Pearson
Roar Guru
Well, well just saw this posted on tan NHL Fans FB group read what you want into it. Ads could soon appear on NHL teams' jerseys. NHL chief operating officer John Collins said in an interview posted Thursday by Sports Business Daily that jersey sponsorship is "coming and happening," though he didn't give any details or a timeframe for when the move may occur. NHL spokesman Frank Brown said jersey ads are not a priority for the league right now. "This is not by any means a front-burner topic," Brown wrote in an email to CBC News Network. "The matter is not under formal consideration at the moment." The practice is already common with European professional hockey teams, though none of the four major North American pro leagues currently allow sponsorship on their jerseys during the regular season, if you don't count the logos of the companies that make the apparel. From CBC
Victoria Liu-Pearson
Roar Guru
Thanks for the comments guys. I will say that I also studied Sports Marketing and Sponsorship in my degree so completely understand the need for it in professional sport but at the same time it dos frustrate me to see it everywhere all the time.
Swampy
Guest
NRL is the worst offender in the world for jersey advertising. Some years the team jerseys are almost unrecognisable. I like the fact a Chicago Bulls Derek Rose jersey is basically the same as a Chicago Bulls Scottie Pippen jersey. There is more value in that brand recognition than say a 2004 broncos jersey vs the 2014 jersey. In fact, while I vaguely know the broncos colours are associated with the maroon of Queensland I can't say I could tell you exactly what they are. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Mark Pybus
Roar Guru
In some cases it actually helps to go overboard. Some of the team names in the Philippine Basketball Association are hilarious. It's a fine balance and I think the American Pro Sports have it right by leaving the uniforms alone for the most part. Aussie pro uniforms just look silly most of the time.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
" it is now difficult to distinguish where marketing ends and sport begins." that's easy, marketing is the branding and sport is what happens on the field. If you want you club and/or sport to be successful then they will need money and a lot of that comes from sponsorships. If you drop the level of sponsorship then you will decrease the income of the club/sport and prices will rise for tickets and jerseys to make up for it.