Here's our first look at an ad on an NBA jersey
The Philadelphia 76ers' jerseys are now brought to you by StubHub.
The team became the first in the NBA -- or any of the four major sports leagues -- to sell an ad on their uniforms after the league decided to start allowing them last month.
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For those who worried that decision could leave their favorite players looking like NASCAR drivers, the tasteful placement should come as a relief. As was reported at the time, the patch is only a couple inches in size and sits just above the team name on the jersey's left shoulder.
The ad won't appear until the 2017-18 season when the rule goes into effect.
The ads won't be included on 76ers jersey merchandise retailed nationally, but jerseys with the brand's logo will be for sale at the stadium.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the league would let teams start selling out the space in April as part of a three-year pilot program.
ESPN's Darren Rovell reported through anonymous sources that StubHub agreed to pay $5 million per year for all three seasons, with the option of extending it if the program continued beyond that. StubHub wouldn't comment on the price.
The Ebay-owned ticket resale service has a longstanding partnership with the Sixers that includes a specially designed official portal for ticket sales and resales.
“This marks another groundbreaking first for the Philadelphia 76ers and StubHub," Philadelphia 76ers CEO Scott O’Neil said in a statement. "Our brands are now inextricably linked as we create lifelong memories for our fans in Philadelphia and around the world."
The Sixers had the worst record of any NBA team last season with just 10 wins and 72 losses -- their third straight year with less than 20 wins.
The deal comes on the heels of a big rebrand for StubHub last year that included a new logo and a new focus on entire "event experiences" -- meaning the site will provide information on parking, weather, nearby restaurants and other planning details related to the event for which you bought tickets.
StubHub President Scott Cutler said the job of the company's latest ad campaign is to sell you on the "experience economy" -- the idea that big live events are worth paying for -- and to "get you off the couch, get you out experiencing life."
"To be placed on the patch right where the heart of the player is and connecting to the fan experience and that once-in-a-lifetime memory is very close to that emotional tie we're trying to create," Cutler told Mashable.
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Patrick Kulp is a Business Reporter at Mashable. Patrick covers digital advertising, online retail and the future of work. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a degree in political science and economics, he previously worked at the Pacific Coast Business Times.
