Menu
Marketing and Sponsorship

NBA Players Union Signs Content, Event Deal With Japan's Dentsu

Dentsu already owns Calif.-based Athletes First.GETTY IMAGES

The NBA Players Association said that it reached a "broad agreement" with Japan's leading advertising agency, Dentsu Inc., to "develop content and create and stage global events that feature the union and its members," according to Scott Soshnick of BLOOMBERG. Until recently, that kind of collaboration was "functionally off-limits." For more than 20 years the NBA had paid the union -- last year, about $41M -- for the marketing and licensing rights to its 400-plus members. The league then "turned around and parceled them out to corporate partners and sponsors." The players union decided it could "do better making its own deals, and last year, took control of its own licensing and marketing deals." For Dentsu, the tie-up with some of the world’s "most popular athletes" will help "cement its sports foothold" in the U.S. It already owns Athletes First, a sports agency based in Laguna Hills, Calif. A separate entity, the newly-created Athletes First Properties, will "work closely" with Dentsu Aegis Network, a London-based consortium of companies that manages Dentsu’s business outside of Japan (BLOOMBERG, 2/14).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2018/02/16/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/NBA-Dentsu.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2018/02/16/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/NBA-Dentsu.aspx

CLOSE