Less than a week ago, CSTB’s David Roth took a long, hard look at the state of the Jersey/Brooklyn Nyets, noting the team’s current home court, the Izod Center is “festooned with branding and logos on every flat and semi-curved surface.” This year, those flat and semi-curved surfaces will include the torsos of Kenyon Dooling and Bobby Simmons, as the following item from Sports Business Journal’s John Lombardi details.
The New Jersey Nets are the first NBA team to sell a practice jersey sponsorship, which will put the logo of PNY Technologies on practice uniforms this fall.
The company, a flash-drive manufacturer based in Parsippany, N.J., also bought the naming rights to the Nets’ practice facility in East Rutherford, N.J., to be called the PNY Center as part of a two-year sponsorship agreement. Brett Yormark, president of Nets Sports & Entertainment, refused to comment on the value of the sponsorship. PNY officials would not disclose the specific value but said they are paying in the low six figures for the overall team deal.
We’ve been reading for months the marketing climate is at best, precarious for professional sports franchises. If someone is willing pay more than $200 to affix their logo to a Nets practice jersey, Barack Obama can take pride in having presided over the most dramatic economic recovery in history. Either that, or PNY Technologies overreacted to being told they’d not be allowed to formally sponsor a local team that plays in a nicer arena.