SportsBusiness Journal contacted each club in the NFL, NBA, MLS, NHL and MLB to find out what corporate logo(s) appeared, or were scheduled to appear, this season on the backdrops that are visible behind players and coaches during pregame and postgame press conferences, in-game interviews and press events at practice and training facilities.
The results were as varied as any effort we’ve done in a long time.
First of all, the industry term for these accessories is a “step-and-repeat” backdrop or banner. Most backgrounds are a static material, usually made of either fabric, vinyl or paper. This is fortunate for NFL running back DeMarco Murray, who had one fall on him during a press conference last year in Philadelphia.
The New England Patriots unveiled a Daktronics-made LED backdrop in October 2015. The Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Dynamo have since added similar technology.
All told, the 135 teams in the study (seven clubs had or have no corporate logo on the backdrops) displayed 245 logos on their backdrops. Of those, 188 different companies received exposure, with 30 of them gaining such exposure with two or more clubs. Toyota was the only club to have at least one such deal in each of the five leagues tracked, for a total of 10 teams.
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| Photo by: NBAE / Getty Images |
NFL
No. of corporate logos: 75. Twenty-two of those brands have a naming-rights deal at a team’s home stadium or training facility.
Top industries: 12 brands are from the health care field; 10 each are from the automotive and bank/financial sectors.
| Brand |
Total no. of backdrops (teams) |
| Toyota |
10 |
| (FC Dallas*, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres, New York Yankees, Houston Rockets) |
| AT&T |
4 |
| (Dallas Cowboys*, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars, San Francisco Giants*) |
| Bell Canada |
4 |
| (Montreal Canadiens*, Toronto Raptors, Vancouver Whitecaps, Ottawa Senators) |
| Kia |
4 |
| (Los Angeles Clippers, Montreal Impact, Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps) |
| PNC |
4 |
| (Pittsburgh Pirates*, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Carolina Hurricanes*) |
| Rogers Communications |
4 |
| (Toronto Blue Jays* ^, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers*, Vancouver Canucks*) |
| Xfinity |
4 |
| (Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers, Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators) |
| Air Canada |
3 |
| (Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens) |
| Baptist Health South Florida |
3 |
| (Miami Dolphins*, Miami Heat, Florida Panthers) |
| BMO |
3 |
| (Milwaukee Bucks*, Montreal Impact*, Vancouver Whitecaps) |
| Chase |
3 |
| (New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks*) |
| Dunkin' Donuts |
3 |
| (New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins) |
| SAP |
3 |
| (San Jose Sharks*, San Francisco 49ers, New York City FC) |
| Verizon |
3 |
| (Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears, Houston Texans) |
Note: 16 other brands have a presence on two backdrops.
* Brand holds naming rights to the club's home venue or training facility.
^ Brand owns the team.
Notes:
■ The Dallas Cowboys have nine logos that rotate, depending on where the press conference is; the Washington Redskins have seven.
■ The Houston Texans’ backdrop features a Verizon logo Tuesday-Sunday, but BMW gets the exposure on Mondays’ press events.
■ The New England Patriots, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys have digital backdrops.
MLB
No. of corporate logos: 33. Nine of those brands have a naming-rights deal at a team’s home stadium (none of them are a spring training naming-rights partner).
Top industries: 10 brands are from the bank/financial sector; three are from the health care field.
Notes:
■ This season, the Texas Rangers traveled with a portable media backdrop that had the Nitto Tire logo that was used for all of Yu Darvish’s postgame press conferences. The Miami Marlins had a backdrop with Sato Pharmaceutical’s logo on it that was only used for the postgame press conference when Ichiro Suzuki recorded his 3,000th hit.
■ The Los Angeles Dodgers have a digital background sponsored by LG; the Washington Nationals have the league’s only other digital display.
■ The Chicago White Sox displayed a U.S. Cellular Field 25th anniversary logo on its backdrop, but a team official said the club is “now actively seeking sponsorship of it for 2017,” as U.S. Cellular’s moniker is no longer on the stadium.
■ The Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays had no corporate logo.
NBA
No. of corporate logos: 49. Nineteen of those brands have a naming-rights deal at a team’s home arena or training facility.
Top industries: 13 brands are from the health care field; six have the logo of their regional sports network partner; five are from the bank/financial sector.
Notes:
■ Six RSNs have backdrop logos (five Fox RSNs and the Washington Wizards’ Monumental SportsNet), making NBA teams more likely than any other league to display the logo of their regional TV partner.
■ The Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs have no corporate logo on their backdrops.
NHL
No. of corporate logos: 42. Ten of those brands have a naming-rights deal at a team’s home stadium or training facility.
Top industries: Seven brands are from the health care field; seven are from the automobile sector; five are from the bank/financial sector; four are media partners.
Notes:
■ The Anaheim Ducks and the New York Islanders are the only teams with no logo on their backdrops.
■ Stay with us: The Calgary Flames play at Scotiabank Saddledome and have Air Canada on their media backdrops. The Toronto Maple Leafs play at Air Canada Centre but have a Rogers 4KTV logo on their backdrop. The Vancouver Canucks play at Rogers Arena and feature Scotiabank and Rogers Media logos during home press conferences, and Rogers Media and Air Canada when they are on the road.
MLS
No. of corporate logos: 46. Eleven of those brands have a naming-rights deal at a team’s home stadium or training facility.
Top industries: Eight brands are from the health care field; five are from the automobile sector; nutritional supplements and the bank/financial sectors each have four clubs.
Notes:
■ Sixteen brands that appear as the primary sponsor on a team’s jersey also have a logo on that club’s backdrop.
■ The Houston Dynamo have the only digital backdrop in the league.
■ The New York Red Bulls are the only club in the whole study to feature a logo of an official agricultural machinery partner, official marine partner and official diesel engine partner on the backdrop (Yanmar).
