Sports Business Digest » Practice Jersey Sponsorship = Good Money for Cincinnati Bengals?

Practice Jersey Sponsorship = Good Money for Cincinnati Bengals?

Posted on June 4th, 2009. Written by Emmett Jones.

When the NFL decides something, their teams jump all over it, don’t they? Just a week ago, the NFL allowed it teams to team up with state lotteries in sponorship deal, and now this week, in the wake of the Phoenix Mercury/Lifelock sponsorship deal, the NFL is looking to allow its teams to look into sponsorship deals on their practice jerseys,

Given the green light by the NFL, the Green Bay Packers are looking into the possibility, team officials said Wednesday.

Team officials said they are in the early stages and are reaching out to potential sponsors.

“It is a new opportunity for sponsors who want to get involved with the Packers in a very meaningful way,” said Laura Sankey, Packers’ senior vice president of marketing and sales. “It’s always exciting when the league opens new categories for sponsorship, particularly one that is so closely linked to our players and our jerseys. A practice jersey patch is a very unique and visible way for a sponsor to be involved with training camp, the team and our fans.”

The Houston Texans also are actively shopping sponsorship patches this summer, according to the Houston Chronicle.

What better way to beat a recession than getting what is basically free revenue? A million dollars for a patch on a jersey? I think most NFL teams would be agreeable to that. On game jerseys though? Not so fast. I spoke with Brian McCarthy, who works in the NFL’s PR dept., on Twitter. His response on sponsorship on “game jerseys”?

NFLprguywe’re talking about practice. logos on NFL practice jerseys only. no plans 4 reg games. @sports_business

about 23 hours ago from web

So, extra revenue opportunity? Definitely. Will we see it during regular season games? No. If only one team that will be featured on an HBO show called Hard Knocks could do something to take advantage of this opportunity…Ah, the Bengals are on Hard Knocks! I wonder if anyone will take advantage of the extra visibility before the show is over? And maybe the Bengals can make some extra money due to their extra visibility? It is a recession, after all…

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