MLB reached uniform agreements with Russell, Rawlings
and Majestic last week (see THE DAILY, 8/24), and the
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Andy Bernstein reports that the
suppliers "will get to display their logos via tiny patches
on players' shoulders," but MLBP "reserves the right to
replace those patches at anytime with the logos" of any
corporate partners. MLBP VP/Licensing Howard Smith
"stressed" that MLB "has not made any final decision"
regarding adding corporate sponsorship to uniforms: "Our
primary objective was maintaining flexibility. We want to
exhaust all opportunities to bring new marketing initiatives
to baseball." Bernstein writes that it is "no secret" that
MLBP "favors [the] direction" of adding corporate sponsors
to uniforms, but the league "remains far from making that
move. It would require approval from three-quarters of
teams, and a strong faction of traditionalists within
baseball are dead set against it." Bernstein also notes
that MLB would "need unprecedented cooperation" from the
MLBPA to add uniform ads (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/30).
THE NUMBERS: As part of the deal with the uniform
suppliers, each MLB team is "guaranteed at least" $125,000
in sponsorship or ad spending, and the suppliers "must spend
at least" $25,000 with "every club they outfit, along with
supplying about" $40,000 worth of products. Majestic will
spend $50,000 with each team for the rights to supply satin
dugout jackets, "more than doubling" what Starter paid last
season, and New Era is "spending at least" $50,000 per team
for exclusive cap rights (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/30).
