The Phillies are a step closer to securing jersey sponsor
Jersey sponsorships are coming to Major League Baseball as early as Opening Day 2023 thanks to an agreement between the league and the players association. Most teams are in the process of hiring a marketing agency tasked with selling the rights to advertise on the uniform. The Phillies, according to the Sports Business Journal‘s Terry Lefton, have hired U.K. based agency Two Circles to secure a future deal for the team.
Phillies vice president of partnership sales and corporate marketing Jackie Cuddeback told the Sports Business Journal that the team spent two-and-a-half-months vetting agencies and Two Circles stood out among the other seven considered for their “data-driven approach” and “great successes in Europe.”
The Phillies are Two Circles’ first venture into North American professional sports. The marketing agency has previously secured kit sponsorship deals for Premier League club Chelsea F.C. and Serie A’s A.C. Milan.
There is a notable local connection with Two Circles. The company’s North American managing director, Adam Davis, previously served as chief operating officer of the company that owns and operates the Philadelphia 76ers, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. Davis spearheaded the Sixers’ Crypto.com jersey patch deal in 2021.
Does that necessarily mean the Phillies are more likely to sign a jersey patch deal with a cryptocurrency exchange company? Not really, but it can’t be completely ruled out considering there is a precedent with these Davis-led deals.
These future deals, unfortunately, are not as simple as slapping a Tastykake logo on the side and calling it a day. As Lefton noted in his article, the current asking price for advertisement deals around the league exceeds the total value of many ballpark naming rights deals. For context, the Phillies are in year 18 of a 25-year, $95 million stadium naming rights/broadcast media package deal with Citizens Bank.
According to Forbes, helmet decal sponsorships, which would be the same league-wide, could arrive as early as the 2022 postseason. Alcohol (sorry, Yuengling), media and betting companies are not permitted to buy advertisement space on MLB uniforms.
The 4×4-inch sleeve patches are likely to go on the right sleeve for the Phillies since the number patch appears on the left. The logos of the patch must remain the same for every jersey, meaning whichever company sponsors the Phillies’ jerseys cannot have a maroon and powder blue logo for the throwback uniforms. Both the league and players association must approve every team’s sponsor patch.
The San Diego Padres, who have signed a deal with Motorola, are the only team who has publicly revealed their jersey sponsor for 2023.
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