Product Placement on WNBA uniforms

The Phoenix Mercury has sold its jersey front to a sponsor, marking a new marketing era for WNBA (Women?s National Basketball Association) teams.

Beginning next season, the Mercury Jersey will be embroidered with LifeLock, the identity-theft protection company. 

Some are saying that the partnership will ruin the team?s local identity, making the impression that the team is a ?sell out.? But others say that this sponsorship represents the future of the sport.

?Anybody who has followed the commercialization of sport could have predicted this would happen, especially in this economy,? said Richard Lapchick, chairman of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida.

?You’re going to see more and more of this,? predicted Jimmy Lynn, a sports strategic consultant. ?I definitely see it happening in men’s major sports within five years.?

What does the WNBA think? Well, according to the league president Donna Orender, ?It?s a natural product placement.? She explained, ?We?re a ground-breaking league. We’re not bound by convention. I think this enhances who we are.?

Many factors converge to make this product placement necessary. First and foremost, the WNBA is not exactly selling out arenas so teams need alternative sources of revenue. This is where a sponsor is needed. The second factor is related to the first?the recession. In rough economic times, profits are bound to decline. Now, brands are looking for an approach that will allow maximum product exposure for minimum cost. And plastering your logo in front of a sports uniform fits the criteria.

Less money, more exposure, beneficial for both.