I cannot be alone in thinking that additional advertising and sponsorships whether it be the name of the arena, sponsors appearing on the field/court/ice, and now especially on jerseys are something I do not always favor. It cheapens the product and often makes the product come across as tacky. I took no issue with arena’s being sponsored and often I prefer arenas/stadiums to be sponsored. Growing up as a child the term Staples Center or American Airlines Arena did not even register in my mind to be sponsors. As they flowed so synonymously with the arenas where the Lakers and Heat played. I, however, initially took issue with the presence of jersey sponsors as I felt that the jersey sponsor was crossing a sacred boundary of the team’s uniforms that I really took issue with. I initially watched the NBA/NFL/MLB growing up in the United States and none of those leagues had jersey sponsors but after being a sports fan for a few years I started watching international club football/soccer. One of the biggest delineating factors that I really did not like at first with international club football compared to the U.S sports I frequented were the presence of jersey sponsors. I felt as if it cheapened the jersey, the team, and it was very tacky. In international club football the jersey sponsor was also written in very large font across the chest of the jersey and was perhaps the most prominent feature on the jersey which also rubbed me in the wrong way. A few years later when I heard that the NBA, which was my favorite league at the time, was going to start allowing jersey sponsors, I really was angry about it at first. However, I have since learned to embrace the presence of jersey sponsors for several reasons and I now find it to be a beautiful part of sports in general for several reasons I can outline below.
In international club football there are hundreds of teams as there is not just one major professional league like there is in the United States such as the NBA for basketball. There is La Liga, English Premier League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, amongst others as well. So, with so many teams there has to be a delineating factor amongst the teams who have similar colors. That delineating factor that makes each team unique from another despite sharing similar colors is often the jersey sponsor. Real Madrid wears all white but several other European Clubs wear all white as well and the thing that delineated Real Madrid from the remaining teams who had a similar color pattern was primarily the presence of Bwin or Fly Emirates as the jersey sponsor. Yes, the name Real Madrid could certainly just be printed on the front of the jersey but that would be very bland and boring in large part. In the World Cup the players’ jersey # is printed on the front of the jersey and that could certainly be the case with club football as well but that would also be somewhat bland and boring. Also, in the World Cup there are only 32 teams in the tournament whereas in international football/soccer club there are several hundred teams. So, in the World Cup there are likely not going to be many teams with similar color patterns so there does not need to be a delineating factor among them either.
The biggest thing that I did not like about the jersey sponsor at first was when the presence of a very tacky blatant sponsor was printed on the jersey of a historical franchise. For instance, when the big Chevrolet logo was printed across the chest of Manchester United. When I reference blatant sponsor, I mean the following. Part of what I like about jersey sponsors is often the mystique/mystery of what the logo is in large part. Often times I see a sponsor on a jersey and I wonder what it is and it does not even register as being a sponsor to me at first. But with the big Chevrolet logo it is incredibly blatant that it is a sponsor and it feels as if the players are just a walking advertisement. This issue especially bothered me because the big Chevrolet logo was with Manchester United, which is one of the most storied franchises in professional sports. A similar type of feeling bothered me initially with the presence of Bwin.com, Wish Shopping, and Vista Print on Real Madrid, the Lakers, and the Celtics. Very blatant sponsors that came across as very tacky printed on storied franchises. In large part the franchises agreed with me in my sentiment that the sponsors were very blatant and tacky. With Real Madrid they removed the .com portion which made it blatantly obvious it was a sponsor and it then just became Bwin. Because when I saw Bwin.com I knew right away it was a sponsor and it came across as very tacky and it made the players feel like they were walking advertisements. Once the .com portion was removed and it just became Bwin I actually liked that sponsor quite a bit. As a casual fan who was not familiar with jersey sponsors or the sport would likely see Bwin on the front of the jersey and they would initially first wonder what it is instead of just presuming it was a sponsor. The same thing happened with the Lakers switching their jersey sponsor from Wish Shopping to just Wish. As a casual fan not overly familiar with jersey sponsors or the sport would see Wish Shopping and they would obviously know right away it was a sponsor and it came across as very tacky. But the presence of just Wish added a cool element to the jersey that a casual fan would first really wonder what it was and why it was printed on there. Instead of it coming across as a very blatant and tacky jersey sponsor. But this is all a matter of opinion as I am sure there is a portion of the population who prefer Wish Shopping and Bwin.com over the presence of just Wish and Bwin. The same thing can be said for the Celtics having Vista Print as the jersey sponsor, Vista Print in my estimation came across as tacky and a blatant sponsor that I did not like, especially with it being on perhaps the most storied NBA franchise. Just like Real Madrid, Manchester United, and the Lakers had tacky blatant jersey sponsors as amongst the most storied franchises in their respective leagues. Jersey sponsors they have since changed perhaps because many if not most fans felt the way same way I did about the sponsor. The Celtics have since switched their jersey sponsor to Amica in cursive writing which I prefer much more over Vista Print for similar reasons I preferred the new jersey sponsors for the Lakers and Real Madrid. However, just as is the case previously it is a matter of opinion and there is likely a portion of the population who prefer Vista Print over Amica.
Another thing I initially did not like about jersey sponsors was the fact that the teams when they first started out back in the day did not have jersey sponsors. So, I felt as if the team was getting away from their true identity but I have since learned to embrace this new identity. The Celtics back with Bill Russell in the 60s just had Celtics printed on the front of the jerseys with no sponsors whatsoever and this remained true until the Larry Bird era and into the Celtics big three era with Allen, Pierce, and Garnett. Although in the last two eras the NBA logo was printed on the jersey whereas that was not the case in the Bill Russell days. Boston has since added the presence of the Nike Swoosh and now jersey sponsors that have alternated from GE to Vista Print and now Amica. I never was bothered by the presence of the Nike swoosh or the NBA logo and I never gave it any thought whatsoever as I saw it as just a natural part of the jersey in all honesty. However, the presence of a jersey sponsor, initially GE, I did not like at first as it did not feel natural. I have since learned to view GE and the future sponsors as just a natural part of the jersey just like I viewed the Nike swoosh and the NBA logo. I have also learned to embrace the fact that the jerseys are indeed different from what they were back in the day. As the jersey sponsors represented the modernization of the jersey and the team as well.
A few things that I initially liked about the presence of jersey sponsors at first and still like to this day are the following. As stated previously I liked when the sponsor was not blatantly a sponsor and when a casual fan who was not familiar with the sport/jersey sponsors would first initially wonder what it was and why it was on there. I also like it when the sponsor is a very aesthetically pleasing logo such as Rakuten in cursive with the Golden State Warriors, or the Etihad Airways logo with Manchester City. I like it when the jersey sponsor is in a different color scheme to the rest of the jersey as it adds a cool new color to the jersey. Such as the red Rakuten logo being present on the Warriors jersey, which was all in blue, gold, and white. The presence of red added a cool different element to the jersey. I also liked that sponsor quite a bit, especially since the Rakuten logo was in a very cool cursive font and the sponsor had some mystique to it as it was not a blatant sponsor and a casual fan would first wonder what it was and why it was on there. I also like it when the sponsor symbolizes the spirit of the team. For instance, La Croix being printed on the Florida Panthers jerseys. La Croix is a sparkling water company and the presence of that sponsor goes hand in hand with the Florida Panthers being a warm weather team playing near the beaches of Fort Lauderdale. Visit Lauderdale is also printed on the helmets of the Florida Panthers and that obviously is neat given that the Panthers play near Fort Lauderdale. The jersey sponsor of Loves on the Oklahoma City Thunder jerseys is neat because the company Loves is a company which was founded in Oklahoma City. I also love the presence of UNICEF on the old Barcelona jerseys as this was a charitable organization where instead of the organization paying to be printed on the Barcelona Jersey, Barcelona paid the charity to be on their jersey. That is only one example I could find where something like that was the case and that is obviously really neat for several reasons.
In totality I initially really did not like the presence of jersey sponsors in sports for several reasons but have since learned to embrace it. Jersey sponsors often add a cool delineating element to the team and their jerseys and they often have a neat back story to them. Yes, they can certainly come across as tacky at times but it is all a matter of opinion as a jersey sponsor that I may not like, another person may really like. Some of my favorite jersey sponsors are the following, Loves on the OKC Thunder, Rakuten on the Golden State Warriors, Etihad Airways on Manchester City, Wish on the Lakers, Milk on the jerseys of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Oreo on the helmets of the Maple Leafs.
