Sports Is commercialization getting out of control?

[BradyB]

Warning, once we get closer and closer to football season, I may go nuts with football threads. A CIN sports forum in the future, perhaps?

Anyway, I know this has been talked about in the past, but I didn't know teams were already doing it:



I'll just say it. I hate it.
If you're still not sure what I'm talking about, I"m talking about the Farm Bureau patch on the practice jersey.
I guess it was kind of inevitable, but I'm growing tired of EVERYTHING being commercialized. Just like with the corporate naming of stadiums, I hate that too.
I mean, how much more money does the NFL need? They're the top league in sports--they aren't hurting for cash. And it's the Colts to boot, one of the more popular teams. I could somewhat understand if a small-market team like, say, Jacksonville or Buffalo pulled this stunt, but the Colts?
Sometimes I fear more about commercialism than any other "ism".
Whatever happened to the joy of the game?

[jimfath]

If you don't like where this is going it's only going to get worse.

Here are some more predictions.

Baseball, with it's lack of payroll, will become more and more lopsided. Boston and the Yankees will form their own premiere division which will be branded the Apple/Microsoft Rivalry Division. KC, Cleveland, and maybe DC will get bumped down to AAA and also be primarily sponsored by Linux.

The NFL will rent ad space on the grills off wide receivers. Most of which will be for NFL brand Grills. The Cleveland Browns will finally get a logo. For 2 seasons it will be a Nike Swoosh. Then the logo will switch to the Geico lizard.

The NBA will begin shooting commercials DURING games. They will also allow unlimited traveling which will go unnoticed for 3 years. The WNBA will still be around for some reason or another.

The NHL will replace the clear Plexiglas over the boards with more ads.

[Evan]

The other night I had a dream where my boss came in and said they were going to give me a $5,000 raise, which sounded pretty awesome. She said they were going to get the money by selling advertising on my shirt. I had to wear a patch that said "Farm Bureau" on it or something. And I was all like, "What? No way! I am not selling out my nice business casual shirts for some stinking Farm Bureau company. You can keep your $5,000 raise and I'll keep my nice shirt without a patch on it." It was nice that I could stand up for my anti-commercialism principles in my dreams.

Evan

[ritty]

First of all, before our panties get TOO bunched up, it's just practice jerseys.

However, to be honest with you, I didn't even notice the ad at first. Teams put ridiculous patches on their jerseys to recognize everything from their old AFL days to a new stadium to a dead former assistant to the owner, not to mention that stupid captain's patch that one player on each team wears. I think we're so inundated with marketing attempts in sports (stadium names, ads on the scoreboards and all around the stadium, sponsorship of every little moment, etc.) that one more patch on a jersey is barely a blip.

[Eric Pedersen!]

They have ads on the Premiere League jerseys in Europe and those look cool. I wish it wouldn't happen in football but I'm guessing if they put them on the game jerseys they won't look as attrocious as these look.

[Hawkins]

I think stadium naming rights were my "breaking point"...when classic ballparks like Candlestick are being called "3Com"

As we find ways to avoid advertising, advertisers must find a new way to keep the money flowing.

The game is the game, as Omar would say

[robbersean]

Does anybody remember a few years ago when they were going to put ads for Spiderman 2 (or maybe 3) on the bases in MLB parks and people freaked out? And then they didn't do it?

I hate the proliferation of advertising into every aspect of life too, but these teams are a business. The owners of each team are trying to maximize profit and if that means slapping a logo on Peyton Manning (who is an ad whore himself anyway) than so be it. I also hate paying 9 dollars for an Old Style at a ball game, and 150 bucks for a jersey, yet I spend it anyway, and watch my team regardless.

I don't know what my "breaking point" would be. Maybe if teams started selling the naming rights to the team itself. Or if players started selling their own names.

[jimfath]

Sean I think you are not that far off in your predictions.

Has anyone ever seen a Soccer game with the Perspective slanted FORD logo on the field?

It's fucking CRAZY!

They paint a giant LOGO on the field and it's painted so the perspective is not UP and proportionate to the field but slanted and proportonate to the TV cameras. So the center of the field looks like there is a GIANT Ford Logo in the middle of your TV screen. Then men run on it. I've only seen it a couple of times and it was several years ago. VERY obnoxious to look at. It was Soccer though so I could care less. USA USA!!!

[nhoj]

Since Wrigley Field was built in 1914 there have been three baseball stadiums--Dodger (1962), Turner (1996), the new Busch (2008)--built with 0 government funds. (PacBell/SBC/AT&T in SF was technically built without taxpayer funds, but tax considerations given by the city account for about 5% of the total cost, plus SF spent $80M building upgrading transpo to the joint.) Those three teams, as far as I'm concerned, can name their parks The Apple KFC/Taco Bell 24-Hour Drive Through Featuring New Gorditas iPark Brought to You By Pepsi. Kind of like naming your kid Wilbur. You made it, you're paying for it, call it what you will.

Dodger Stadium only cost about $20M to build back in the sixties, though. On the other hand, Nationals Park cost over $600,000,000 and was built entirely with public funds. That's kinda gross.

The Mets spent $850,000,000 on their new park, with $263,500,000 coming from the taxpayers. They'll get $400,000,000 over 20 years from Citi. I think the Mets should forward all that money to NYC, plus interest, before they start collecting a dime of it.

Euro soccer jerseys do look way cooler than plain old ad-free US football jerseys though.

[BlackDog]