Two D-League Teams Introduce Ad Laden Jerseys, Courts

We’ve been banging this drum for a while now, but it seems like with every passing day we continue to get closer and closer to ads being placed on the jerseys of one of the major 4 North American sports leagues. Although there appears to be rumbling that the NHL could be the first league to do so (despite them saying earlier that they’d wait on another league to be the first and then they’d be the 2nd), my money is on the NBA being first. If recent developments in the D-League (and the NBA’s sister league, the WNBA, for that matter) are any indication, I could be right.

First, let’s talk about the Westchester Knicks, who are obviously the New York Knicks’ D-League squad that will be starting play this season. Their inaugural uniforms (and logo, for that matter) are throwbacks to an era that has long passed on. One thing that I’m sure wasn’t on those old Knicks uniforms from the early ’80s was an advertisement for Chase.

Also, the agreement with Chase as a sponsor also includes the bank’s logo being given front-and-center treatment on the court, as well. Other than that, it’s nearly a doppleganger to the parent club’s court.

Meanwhile in Texas, the Dallas Mavericks’ D-League team has also decided to put their sponsor’s logo smack-dab in the middle of their new court design. The Texas Legends came to an agreement with the Mexican state of Chihuahua for the state to be the team’s new sponsor. Here’s a couple of the fruits of this partnership so far:

Of course, there’s a lot more ad clutter here than on the Westchester Knicks’ court, but I’m sure that with time, we’ll see them ad more to their court as well.

Is this the future of the NBA? I still think that it’s a certainty at this point, but it probably won’t be as “bad” as it is in the D-League. It’ll be smaller because they know that fans would probably throw a fit if they went all NASCAR with it. But it’s definitely happening.

But for now, how do you guys think the ads look on the D-League uniforms above?