(l-r : Diane Taurasi, guy telling her what to wear)

There’s not many WNBA entries at CSTB, mostly because I’m still getting over the trauma of attending a New York Liberty game with seats directly adjacent Chyna Phillips and Stephen Baldwin. But today’s press release from the Phoenix Mercury is (take your pick) a harbinger of things to come for American professional sports franchises, or perhaps a rather desperate stab for revenue by a struggling league.

The Phoenix Mercury and LifeLock have entered a multi-year marketing partnership to launch the first-ever branded jersey in WNBA or NBA history, it was announced today by Phoenix Mercury President and COO Jay Parry and LifeLock CEO Todd Davis at a press conference at the NBA Store in New York City. LifeLock is an industry leader in identity theft protection.

Highlighting the innovative alliance, which runs through 2011, is the appearance of the LifeLock name on the front of Phoenix Mercury™s player jerseys and on warm-up suits. The Mercury and LifeLock are the first to finalize such an agreement following the WNBA™s decision this off-season to make this unique opportunity available for its teams and sponsors.

LifeLock promises a one-year complimentary membership (retail value : $110) to each WNBA season ticket holder. a bold initiative that should cost the company at least 2 or 3 thousand dollars. Sponsors’ logos on the front of professional football jerseys have hardly hurt the development of that sport, but there’s something a little screwy about David Stern deeming the women’s league worthy of such an experiment, but not say, the New Jersey Nets.