Ladies and gents – YOUR Taco Bell Bucks!

Greg Matzek Posted: June 5, 2009

Like it or not, sports fans, the age of commercial advertising on jerseys is literally in front of us. What in the name of Chico’s Bail Bonds is going on here?

The Green Bay Packers are hoping to take advantage of a new NFL rule allowing teams to attach a small patch with a corporate logo to the jerseys players wear in practice..The Houston Texans are entertaining the same notion. In the current state of struggling business and declining home assessments (will my taxes go down too?), this shouldn’t be considered a surprise, but it’s only a sign of things to come. Practice jersey advertising is a gateway drug to bigger and certainly not better corporate inclusion.

In a move to Europeanize American sports, the Phoenix Mercury has recently struck a partnership with LifeLock, the identity theft prevention company. The President of the WNBA calls it ‘innovation.’ I call it ‘doing anything not to go under.’ It’s not surprising that struggling properties such as the WNBA and Arena Football are looking for creative ways to increase revenue, but the thought of compromising the purity of a team uniform in one of the major sports just seems gross. It’s a constant reminder of the current struggle for the dollar. I watch sports to take my mind away from the things in the world that irk me…the economy is one of those things. The last thing I need when I’m on the couch with a bottle of beer and some wings watching the Packers play is to be force-fed advertising for Open Pit Bar-B-Que sauce.

Such lucrative advertising deals are common in the rest of the world. The soccer team Manchester United, No. 1 on Forbes.com's list of most valuable sports franchises, is peppered with American International Group (AIG) advertising. AIG paid $56.5 million over four years to have its acronym boxed in the center of the jersey while the small team logo is in the upper right.

Who could forget Argentina’s Olympic jerseys?...and my personal favorite, the advertising of Spiderman 2 on the bases in 2004. The point is, everything is for sale…nothing is sacred, and it all looks tacky.

I can hear the PA announcer now...

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Ladies and gents – YOUR Taco Bell Bucks!