It is no secret that as costs escalate and fans clamor for more access and brands for more ROI, that team sports needs to continue to be more creative in finding dollars to meet budget and in giving fans more reasons to engage. So with that in mind it should come as not a huge surprise that in the last few weeks the NFL has relaxed its long standing policy on having teams accept advertising dollars for casinos, and the NBA approved a new jersey signage deal for the Developmental League. Both are controlled and limited adjustments to test the waters, but they are the next significant steps in turning loose new revenue streams for professional sports in North America.
The latest jersey move for the D-League follows the NBA allowing limited advertising on practice jerseys and approving uniform sponsors for the WNBA, both of which have added dollars and exposure for key brands with little to no resistance from fans. With the MLS integrating jersey sponsorships without issue, and the rest of the world easily accepting brands on apparel, the die is being cast for team and league deals not just for the NBA, but for all of the professional leagues to start integrating brands as part of very lucrative deals. Whats next might be minor league baseball, or maybe a series of exhibitions played outside the United States with a new key brand on a jersey, but the day is coming when the acceptance level and the dollars will be big enough to change the face of the pristine look for good for the biggest four teams sports in North America. it won’t be haphazard, it will be carefully planned and integrated, and marketed, but the day will come with each subtle acceptance of the testing that the leagues are doing.
Perhaps an even more steady stream of dollars somewhere in the future will come from the casino industry, with the NFL adjustment to their marketing rules the next step. The NBA pulled off an All-Star weekend in Las Vegas without incident, and New Jersey is challenging federal law for a sports book, which will be another landmark occurrence for professional sports when it eventually becomes reality. Online wagering, dealt a blow last year with the online poker scandals but long accepted again outside of the U.S., will be another very lucrative and controlled next step for professional sports teams, one which could not just dwarf current revenue streams outside of TV and tickets, but one, when combined with casual gaming, could create a new level of consistent fan engagement for even the most lopsided of games. The revenue stream tied t gaming and gambling will eventually be another accepted and regulated frontier to keep costs in control and value up, with one league eventually making the move to find a plan that is acceptable and beyond reproach.
The funny thing is with the large slate of events from around the world now on broadcast, ads and gambling have already been exposed to a mainstream public hungry for new and different across the United States. Casual gaming is growing at a very fast pace, and teams have struggled to find large revenue streams thus far through social media. So acceptance of ways to use casual gaming, the lucrative mobile space, and controlled wagering (for services or virtual goods first before cash) is not as radical an idea as maybe it was five to ten years ago, when the patterns for acceptable convergence of gaming and gambling, and even the fan’s appetite for engagement, was not as voracious.
Like many things in our society today, acceptance is tantamount, and what was once thought verboten has become wrote. Sports usually follows suit with what society wants, hopefully for the better of all. These two areas, signage and gambling, within reason, are both controllable and acceptable, and won’t be so far away as the waters get tested more and more.
