As anticipated, Nike won an eight season deal with the NBA to outfit the uniforms and warm-up jerseys for all 30 teams starting in 2017. Nike is rapidly making its way into professional leagues and continues to be a powerhouse in the business of sports.
Adidas has supplied the NBA teams with their gear since 2006 and did not try to reinstate their contract. Why bother competing with Nike, right? Nike already owns 90% of the footwear worn in the NBA and has a sponsorship contract with King James; another win.
Nike's contract with the NBA cost them over $1 billion over those eight years, but that's nothing for a company that projects their annual revenue in 2017 will be around $36 billion. Money is not a problem for this unstoppable powerhouse in their industry. A money printing machine would not even be able to keep up with this company's exponential growth.
One interesting perk for Nike will be that they can show the logo on the uniforms as opposed to just showing the swoosh on the warm-up jerseys. In previous seasons, the sponsor was not allowed to show the company's logo on the jerseys; until now. Nike will be gaining an incredible amount of exposure by featuring their logo on NBA jerseys- in broadcasts, photos of players, social media posts, you name it- their logo will be there.
With Nike supplying the NBA and also the NFL's apparel, the business will be seen at the forefront of our TV screens for more than six months out of the year and will continue to dominate the court and leave its competitors behind in the dust.
To learn more about sponsorship opportunities for your brand, reach out to an OpenSponsorship rep today or send us an email at info@opensponsorship.com.
