As first reported by Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, Palace Sports & Entertainment President Dennis Mannion indicated that Pistons jerseys will "most probably" have small sponsorship patches in the near future.
Rumors and more official communications from the league have been circling for the past few months, and ad-revenue seen in other leagues around the world have led people to believe that the NBA would eventually follow suit with 'When?' being the only question left unanswered.
Just as Tom Gores and his management team have shaken things up operationally in the past year by adding halftime featured concert performers, improving both private and public features of the Palace, and consistently seeking new ways to make their franchise more profitable, its not surprising that a savvy businessman like Gores would be a first mover in this area.
Early fan feedback on the Detroit Free Press's website shows fans heavily against the idea of advertisers buying space on our precious apparel, but plenty of questions specific to the Pistons still remain. Will only game-worn jerseys feature ads, or will all apparel at The Palace Lockerroom feature similar advertising? Would the Pistons consider selling ads specific to players or consistent across all apparel? What would Sam Bernstein's face look like as a shrunken down patch featured in the upper left portion of the jersey?
Only time will tell, but I personally like the move. Being first movers in this space could help generate incremental revenue for the franchise that would hopefully lead to more aggressive spending in free agency. Of course, that spending has to be done intelligently, but incremental revenue realized by only the Pistons, even for a short period of time, could result in a slight advantage when it comes time to overpay for that perfect complement to round out our roster.
Ed. Note -- If you haven't noticed already, The Boourns is DBB's newest featured contributor. For years, he has been a prolific member of the community. That will not change of course, but it was only a matter of time he would join the masthead. We may still add other contributors, so don't feel slighted if you haven't heard back from us yet. Carry on. -bp