The San Diego Padres may start a trend in Major League Baseball.
As of the 2022 season, Major League Baseball is allowing teams to put advertisement patches on jerseys and stickers on batting helmets. News broke on Tuesday that the San Diego Padres were the first team to strike such a deal.
The Padres’ jerseys will feature a Motorola advertising patch on the sleeve starting in the 2023 season. Additionally, Motorola will become the official smartphone of the Padres. The deal will pay the Padres $10 million per year. It’s easy money for the franchise. Every team should follow suit.
It provides teams with a small revenue stream without having to do much in return.
It’s not an original idea either. Other sports leagues have been doing this for years, most notably foreign soccer leagues, including the Premier League in the United Kingdom and La Liga in Spain. It happens in American sports leagues too. Nearly every team in the National Basketball Association has a patch of an advertiser on their jersey. And NASCAR drivers drive cars loaded with advertisements, and their jumpsuits have several ads.
If it can work in soccer, basketball, and race car driving, it can work in baseball.
Critics’ arguments on this topic typically lack substance. Some complain that it’s representative of the over-commercialization of the game and that the owners already make enough money. However, the front office is responsible for turning a profit. If they see this as an effective way to help them make money, they should do it.
The other argument opponents make is that they think it makes the jerseys look ugly. Maybe some people won’t buy jerseys because they dislike the ad. However, there isn’t evidence that the NBA’s jersey patch program has lowered jersey sales. That program started in the 2017-2018 season and seems to be working well for every team involved.
If people have a problem with MLB being over-commercialized, they should worry about things such as advertising alcohol to minors and pushing lottery tickets on the masses.
But a jersey patch or a helmet sticker promoting a cellphone manufacturer? The world has bigger problems. The people who dislike the jersey patches will eventually get used to them. Then, they will find something else to complain about.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.
