NBA teams, seeing the “push for lucrative jersey advertising shelved, are getting two new areas inside their arenas as sources of revenue starting next season: on the court and atop the backboards,” according to John Lombardo of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. League officials approved teams selling on-court advertising “for the high-profile space in front of team benches as well as the camera-visible areas on top of the backboards.” A source said that “multiyear, multimillion-dollar deals are expected, with teams signing package deals that would provide an advertiser with visibility in both places.” One source said that the deals “could range" anywhere from mid-six figures to around $2M annually, "acknowledging that the value of the signage will vary widely by market.” The league until now “had mandated that these areas be limited to team branding.” The deals would be “sold locally, but any corporate branding of the areas would be removed during national TV broadcasts.” This new courtside signage opportunity “serves as the latest effort by the league to give teams more in-arena sales inventory.” Many teams “already include on-floor signage, toward center court, as part of their arena naming-rights deals, but officials close to the league feel the new signage will not clutter up the court” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/10 issue).
