The Boston Red Sox made official today what had been widely reported back in July; they will be wearing MassMutual advertisements on their jersey sleeves for the 2023 through 2032 seasons.
According to Sports Business Journal, the deal (which includes a bevy of non-uniform patch-related perks) is worth between $170 million to $200 million over the course of the ten-year program.
“The Red Sox jersey is one of the most visible and central representations of the club, and it was important to us for the partner featured on it to have a deep understanding and appreciation for this region and community,” said Boston Red Sox President Sam Kennedy in the press release. “MassMutual is the perfect match for us because they have strong Massachusetts roots and an appetite similar to our own to collaborate well beyond the jersey patch. While their logo will feature prominently at Fenway Park with signage in center field and their logo on the sleeve of our jerseys, it’s the work we will do together in our community that will truly bring to light our shared values.”
The patch features the MassMutual logo in white on a navy blue rectangle.
Earlier this year, Major League Baseball permitted clubs to sell advertising on their jerseys starting in 2023. Patches can be a maximum 4″x 4″ and, unlike a similar program in the NHL, must be the same brand across all the team’s uniforms. Batting helmets are also open for advertising, but this space is controlled by Major League Baseball rather than the individual teams.
At this time, the San Diego Padres are the only other Major League ballclub to announce they will be wearing a jersey ad; they will wear a Motorola logo. The NBA was the first “big four” North American league to allow advertisements on jerseys back in 2017-18; the NHL followed suit for the 2022-23 season. While all NBA teams now wear an advertisement, it did take some time before the practice was adopted league-wide; in the NHL, where the program is still only a few months old, only one-third of the league’s 32 clubs are wearing ad patches.
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