·

Originally written: Mar 14, 2023

Spring is here and as a result the cactus league and grapefruit league has commenced. I am, of course, referring to MLB spring training; where the temperatures are a perfect 70, the games start at 1 pm, and plenty of new changes are being introduced.

One particular change has us curious about its effectiveness. No, I’m not referring to the new pitch clock rule, but the new advertisement placement available in the league.

The Details

What or where is this new placement? It’s not located on the walls, nor on the screens; the advertisement will not be spoken or be shown in commercials. It WILL only be visible in 9 places for half an inning and be moving around on the field of play. The location? On each player’s sleeve.

I cannot confirm whether or not they will be on fan apparel, but if the NBA or Soccer is any indication, the ad somehow becomes part of the design. This opens the door to other placements: Hats, pants, helmets and other protective gear, which offer similar real estate opportunities.

The most interesting, and hilarious, element about the sleeve advertisements is they will be affixed using velcro. They will not be sewn on, ironed on, or printed. Additionally, they will be applied to the player’s non-dominate arm. The reason for this? Batting.*

The Practicality

The average stadium fan won’t really see the patch — it’s mainly for broadcasting. Every time a batter goes up to hit, the patch will be facing towards the camera (assuming they aren’t a switch hitter), so at the end of the game the patch will be shown, at minimum, 27 times; and the better your team does offensively, the more you get that team’s ad.

A lot of these sponsorship deals are done behind closed doors and have NDAs, but based on research these deals vary from 5–25 million per year, with the one public deal between Motorola and the Padre’s averaging $9 million/year for 4 years.

The Bottomline

All I can say at this point, is these advertisements are here to stay. Also, while marketing attaches itself to bold and new ideas, I think there are more cost effective ways to advertise.

Footnotes
*The patch location may also be to not affect the elbow of the throwing arm, but thats just nit-picking.