By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek
April 20, 2012
Spanish bank BBVA has purchased the sponsorship rights to NBA D-League jerseys during this year’s playoffs. This is the first time a league sponsor other than Adidas has had its logo on a D-League jersey. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The D-League over the years has been the NBA’s living laboratory when it comes to experimentation. Given the BBVA deal and the fact that the NBA’s Board of Governors recently discussed the issue, don’t be surprised if the league allows jersey sponsorships within the next few years.
In the interim, two key questions remain about how the process will be handled. It’s unknown whether the league or teams will be responsible for sales, nor is it clear if there will be a revenue sharing model to account for disparities between the have and have not teams. In either case, this potentially is an extremely lucrative revenue stream for the NBA.
