The Nets "will be wearing a Motorola uniform patch as part of a partnership" with the mobile communications company, according to the AP. The team's uniforms will feature Motorola's "batwing logo woven into the front left shoulder." Practice jerseys also will have "Motorola placed on the lower abdomen area." Terms of the deal "were not disclosed." The Nets "played the last three seasons wearing a jersey patch of business software company Infor." Under the new deal, the Nets and Motorola "will partner in the Brooklyn community to bring STEM educational programs to underserved youth and donate Motorola smartphones to support virtual learning for homeless students" (AP, 12/10).
PATCH PROGRAM: THE ATHLETIC's Bill Shea notes many of the league's teams are "in the process of replacing or extending deals under the patch program, which launched as a three-year pilot program" in '17 and was made permanent in '19. The NBA also now "allows the sale of an additional, larger practice jersey patch because of the pandemic revenue losses." NBA Senior VP/Team Marketing & Business Operations Matt Wolf said the patch program "has been a critically important program for our teams for the last three years, and for the upcoming season it will be even more so." Shea notes while many teams are owned by billionaires, they "must live within budgets and are seeking revenue sources such as uniform sponsors to replace the money they won't get from fans spending on tickets, concessions and souvenirs inside arenas." The pandemic revenue declines "fueled the NBA's September decision to expand the patch program to allow for a horizontal position below the numbers on the front of practice and shootaround jerseys" (THEATHLETIC.com, 12/10).
