Oh how I love the game, but I can’t stand ads — yes, I know it’s the money maker. Trust me, I’ve been in radio/TV for a while now and know what it is – but it doesn’t mean I have to like it! The NBA will allow advertising on the court and backboards for the first time next season. Details after the jump…
Via Darren Rovell at ESPN:
The league sent a memo to its teams saying they will be permitted to sell space on what is referred to as the apron. The space covers the out-of-bounds area on the sideline between the baselines and the coaches’ box where teams currently advertise their website or Twitter handles.
A team can place a company’s logo on the floor in front of both team benches, but it has to be a decal. That’s because teams can sell the space to a company only for games that are televised locally.
Players will get a slice of the pie from any revenue generated from the new signage opportunity as it will be calculated into the league’s basketball related income.
The idea, proposed by deputy commissioner Adam Silver, who will take over for David Stern next season, will be evaluated over a one-year period to determine whether the league wants to make it a permanent piece of space to sell in the future. It is in lieu of putting corporate logos on jerseys, a proposal that has somewhat stalled. At one point, Silver said he believed that giving teams the rights to have a company’s patch on jerseys would generate $100 million annually.
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