Prediction fulfilled: Cavaliers will have Goodyear logo on uniform

As a partial season ticket holder, I recently received an email that outlined a partnership between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Akron, Ohio-based Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company to place the famous Goodyear Wingfoot logo on the Cavs’ new, but yet to be revealed, Nike uniforms for the 2017-18 season. The email jogged my memory about a column — ‘Starting at forward for Burger King, Lebron James: Should ads be on athletes?’ — I wrote during the 2012 NBA Finals.

In the email, LeBron James was quoted about the partnership.

‘Every Akron kid grew up seeing the Wingfoot in the sky on the blimp and feeling pride in our community. There is something special for me personally about having that logo on the Cavs uniform. Goodyear is also very supportive of the LeBron James Family Foundation.

‘I can’t imagine a better situation with our new Cavs jersey than bringing together Nike and Goodyear, two companies that mean a lot to me and my family.”

The Cavs offered season ticket holders a 15 percent discount on tires purchased from www.goodyear.com for the month of June.

There you have it. The NBA will join NASCAR and European soccer and sell ads on players’ uniforms for the 2017-18 season.

The National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have so far declined to do so. The NBA took the risk under what they call a three-year pilot program, and is already receiving backlash from fans.

Even though I personally don’t like the decision, the NBA trying it first makes sense for a couple of reasons. 

The NBA has historically focused its messaging more on individual players than teams. Plus, with only five players per team on the court at any given moment, each player is more visible and theoretically makes more of an impact than in other sports.
It’s much more common for one or two players to carry a team to multiple championships. Just look at this year’s NBA Finals where the Cavs and the Golden State Warriors meet for the third straight time. Can you see your company’s logo on Steph Curry’s uniform? That would make quite an impact.

Yes, it would also make an impact if your corporate logo were on Tom Brady’s uniform, but the NFL is by far the strongest of the four leagues, so it can wait and see how it goes before jumping in.
Major League Baseball and the NHL also are taking the short-term public relations gain by announcing they won’t be selling ads on uniforms any time soon.

Still, I’m sure the other leagues will keep an eye on how the NBA’s ads are perceived and, more importantly, the amount of revenue generated. If it goes well, it won’t be long until the others follow the NBA and put corporate logos on their uniforms, too.

Dave Mastovich is founder and CEO of marketing firm MASSolutions.