The NBA is officially on Mars

Mars candies has completed the triple play on the sports candy market.  Having already entered into deals with Major League Baseball and the NFL, the NBA is now Mars’ newest licensing partner.  More from Sports Business Daily,

NBA team-logoed M&M’s are now available online at mymms.com/nba, and at the NBA Store in N.Y. Mars is already offering MLB- and NFL-logoed M&M’s. NBA fans can buy team-logoed candies for a three-bag minimum (7-ounces each) of $38.97, or $140 for each five-pound bag. By way of comparison, Amazon.com sells non-logoed M&M’s for $15.09 per 56-ounce bag.

Wow.  The NBA logo is apparently worth a lot of money, no?  A 56-oz. bag sells for $15.09 on Amazon, while you are forced to buy a three pack of candy totaling 21-0z. for $38.97?  At those prices, quick math tells me that if you wanted 56-0z. at the NBA prices, you’d have to pay $103.92, making the NBA branding worth $88.83.  Again, don’t people realize we’re in a recession?  I think you’d have to find a die-hard NBA fan to pay that much for M&M’s in a booming economy, but in a slumping economy?  I’d love to know how many units have been sold, and if anyone has sprung for the ever elusive and ever expensive 5-lb. bag.

The article in Sports Business Daily also notes that the deal between Mars and the NBA is strictly a licensing deal.  Mars has the right to use the NBA name, and other trademarked materials for some previously agreed upon time period and only in association with specific types of candy in a targeted area.  Compare that to a sponsorship deal, where Mars would have paid the NBA some sort of sponsor fee in return for the rights to use the NBA’s intellectual property.  So, basically, it sounds like the NBA and Mars have entered into a mutual agreement where they would split the profits of their jointly created products…which are priced at astronomical levels.  Good luck with that.

The NBA…where overpriced candy…happens