The Toronto Raptors are the latest NBA team to announce a jersey advertisement partnership, revealing Thursday that they’ll wear a Sun Life Financial patch for the 2017-18 season.
The Raptors announced the partnership in a press release:
“We’re thrilled to announce this new, first of its kind partnership with the Raptors and MLSE,” said Lisa Ritchie, Senior Vice-President & Chief Marketing Officer, Sun Life Financial. “These are great brands coming together, connecting with fans of the game and encouraging Canadians from coast to coast to live a healthy and active lifestyle. I look forward to the 2017-18 Raptors season when we officially launch this exciting program in support of diabetes and wellness.”
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“This is an exciting time in Raptors’ history and we’re thrilled to share it with Sun Life, an iconic Canadian brand who has been a trusted partner of ours over the past seven years,” said David Hopkinson, Chief Commercial Officer, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. “This partnership, while breaking new ground, puts an important issue affecting our community first and represents an initiative that we can all take great pride in.”
While the specifics are unclear, the release also notes that the partnership will feature a “prominent program in support of diabetes awareness and prevention,” which is something that hits close for me personally, so, kudos (it’s a long-standing Sun Life endeavor). More details will come when the sides unveil the new jersey sometime in the fall.
The deal is reportedly worth $5 million per-year.
The NBA will allow teams to wear corporate logos beginning this year as part of a three-year pilot run, and the Raptors’ will appear in the top left of the jersey. They follow Boston, Sacramento, Philadelphia, and several others taking the leap. Based on the mock-up from Raptors.com pictured here, it’s fairly unintrusive (and the far more intriguing question is what the jerseys, switching over to Nike this year, will look like, and how many the team will keep in rotation). That the logo mocked up is black-and-white rather than Sun Life’s trademark yellow is an important consideration here. The ads also won’t appear on the retail version of jerseys, for now.
Basically, it is what it is – the NBA saw a chance to make additional ad revenue, and the Raptors are taking advantage while also doing what they can to leverage it for charitable benefit.
