LAFC was the first club to sign a sleeve sponsor when MLS opened up that assetGETTY IMAGES
MLS will allow teams to "sell advertising patches on players' shorts, an initiative to help organizations offset considerable losses amid the shutdown," according to Steven Goff of the WASHINGTON POST. Sources said that teams have been "cleared to negotiate deals in time for the return to competition next month at a five-week tournament on the Disney campus outside Orlando." MLS wants to "take advantage of being the first U.S. men's team sport to return to action and having all 54 matches televised." A source said that the league also is "looking into allowing ads on the left sleeve of team jerseys." Four teams "already have sponsor logos on their right sleeve" -- after the league allowed it earlier this year -- and "all but one of the 26 clubs have large sponsor logos across the chest." The purpose of the new uniform ads is "twofold: create additional revenue during economic hardship and, as one [source] said, to 'make good' on current local sponsorship agreements, such as signage in home stadiums." Ads on shorts "would become the third advertising location on MLS uniforms." Teams since '07 have been "allowed to monetize the front of the jersey, much like most soccer teams around the world" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/13).
