The NBA is testing the waters of corporate sponsorship on Jerseys.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the basketball league has just struck a deal with KIA which will see the auto manufacturer's badge displayed on the upper left of player uniforms during the 2016 and 2017 all-star games.
The presence of the 3.25-inch-by-1.6-inch Kia Badge on the all-star jerseys will mark the first time a non-apparel logo has appeared on a uniform belonging to one of the four major American sports leagues.
Back in January, league commissioner Adam Silver said that sponsor logos appearing on jerseys was 'inevitable.'
"Exactly when it's going to come, I'm not sure, but I do think it's inevitable in our sport," Said Silver prior to last season's London showdown between the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks.
"Mainly because I travel so much and I see the model work so successfully here. I think that as we look to generate other forms of revenue and also as we listen to the marketplace, the companies that are involved with the NBA want to get closer to the game, want to get closer to our players." He continued.
Like Silver said, the practice of displaying logos on jerseys is nothing new in Europe. Top football clubs around the continent make millions of dollars each year by selling the sponsorship rights of their playing kits to major companies.
Last year, British club Manchester United inked a £53million per-year deal with Chevrolet that will see the American auto giant's badge emblazoned on the team's kit until 2021.
Smaller American sports leagues like Major League Soccer (MLS) have been using shirt sponsors for quite a while now. But the NBA's move would no doubt urge major players like the NFL and MLB to explore the possibility.
