The NBA…where courtside liquor ads happen

Well, well, well…This recession is just bringing forth all kinds of secret revenue that everyone was inexplicably failing to capitalize on before.  These past few months have taught us that when recessions happen, any hang-ups you may have had about advertising on jerseys, gambling, making small uniform changes to generate revenue, firing team mascots, or just resorting to borderline nudity, will all go by the way side, in the name of the almighty dollar.  This week, the NBA’s moral compass has finally malfunctioned enough for courtside liquor ads! Lovely.  The Miami Heat’s courtside ads will now feature Bacardi liquors.  More from Sports Business Daily,

When Bacardi, “already one of the Heat’s biggest sponsors, signed a seven-year renewal in 2008, a provisional agreement was written into the deal for courtside advertising should the NBA lift its restriction on spirits brands.” The addition of the Heat’s courtside signs, “expected to be in place for the 2009-10 season, boosts the value of the seven-figure annual deal” an additional 10%. Heat Exec VP/Sales Steve Weber: “Bacardi has been a longtime partner and they will have signage for three of their main brands in Grey Goose, Dewar’s and Bacardi.” Lombardo reports the NBA’s new rules “allow for camera-visible liquor ads but also call for social-responsibility messaging.” Liquor ads on team Web sites “must include that message” as well. Courtside signs and other camera-visible ads for spirits brands are “limited to the social-responsibility campaigns or a simple brand plug and can’t have another tag line.” Bacardi will also be part of the Heat’s “new Miami Media Mesh outdoor LED system that hangs on the facade of the AmericanAirlines Arena.”

Okay. First things first.  How awesome would it be if the NBA used this bit of reasoning for D-League teams as well, and we had lower level alcohols sponsor their teams? Walker’s Moonshine…the official sponsor of the Rio Grande Vipers. That sounds like something out of a Will Ferrell movie (namely, Semi-Pro).  But, I digress…

For the life of me I can’t figure out why it took so long for the NBA to allow deals like this to happen.  Obviously, the initial concern would have been that the NBA was worried about protecting their image…but protecting it for whom?  Various alchohol companies are the people working with the sports leagues in the first place (as evidenced by the Heat/Bacardi deal already in place).  Maybe they were trying to protect their image so as to still be marketable to children? They do have those various programs in place (i.e. NBA Cares, etc.) and maybe there was concern about courtside advertising have some adverse effects on programs like that? (but if so, why allow it now just to get a cheap revenue increase at the sake of the kids? Especially when you have great borrowing power, even in the midst of a recession?).  I just don’t get it.

The recession has forced the sports leagues to come up with innovative ways to increase their revenue, or to become lax on the restraints they had previously placed on viable revenue streams.  It will be interesting to see, once the recession is over, if the leagues continue to push the envelope, or if they will become stagnant in their thought processes, due to the money rolling in like it did pre-recession.  Of course, at this point though, I’m waiting for MLB to announce that they’ve lifted the ban on tapping into their secret gold reserves buried under Wrigley Field…Sports teams and leagues clearly have more revenue streams than intially thought, they’ve just been apprehensive about using those steams…for one reason or another.

Sports Business Daily — Miami Heat, First NBA Team to Work Liquor Ads onto Courtside Signage