MLB moving ahead with uniform ads
I hate this so much. Yes, I'm old(er) and this rant is me shouting at clouds, but does anyone like ads on uniforms? Don't the players and owners make enough money? Is nothing sacred? I absolutely cannot stand advertising creep into sports. Bowl game naming rights, stadium naming rights, advertisements behind home plate . . . they all take away from the overall enjoyment of the game. I don't feel like a fan anymore; I feel like a forced participant in a marketing campaign. I totally understand a patch for the apparel manufacturer--that makes sense--but who thinks pro soccer is better with uniforms emblazoned with a middle eastern airline on the front???
Ads on uniforms is the last straw for me. When the NBA and NHL dipped their toes into uniform ads in recent years, I determined not to spend a dime on any league's merchandise--jerseys, hats, trinkets, whatever--that allows for advertisements between the lines. I like sports too much to boycott the games, but I can at least vote with my discretionary dollars. I guess I can add MLB to the list. Fuck 'em. Enough is enough. Now get off my lawn!
Link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/mlb-moving-ahead-uniform-ads-220831499.html
Have you ever looked at pro soccer unies? It looks like the sponsor IS the team.
And don't get me started on Nascar or F1.
The WNBA needs them. Except for kids rec ball sports, no other teams need them for revenue reasons. Keep the ads in the stands and - maybe - on the field of play.
In Japan the baseball teams are owned by corporate interests, so you have teams like the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
I know of people who thought Arsenal was called Fly Emirates, lmao. I know the common response is "but soccer doesn't have as many commercials, so American sports won't go that far" as if trusting corporations not to overload jersey ads despite already overloading broadcast ads is a smart move.
Soccer gets a pass because it has zero commercials during the game. I'd be happy for my teams' socks to say Toyota if there were no commercials. The problem with pro sports is that you can't even go to the games any more to escape it. Those venues are strictly dedicated to selling every ounce of your attention to advertisers. When I was a kid and went to Nuggets games with my YMCA basketball league team, we had rafters seats and could still hear all the dribbling and shoe-squeaking. I recently took one of my sons to his first pro game, the Wizards, and, even with good seats, we never heard the basketball bounce. They played hip-hop during the entire game. We couldn't even speak without yelling on timeouts, because the second play stops all the TV's light up with commercials. I'm never going back. We'll go to Georgetown or Maryland games. At least in college they're relatively free from constant ads.
Euro hockey leagues would like a word with you. 
I really hope the major pro sports teams’ unis begin to resemble a NASCAR. Just one more reason to wear Maize or Blue.
This is why I appreciate the college game. (Or, used to, we’ll see what NIL winds up doing.)
But, the worst thing is - we all pay for it. More more costs are imbedded into product costs and those are passed through to the consumer.
Sports used to be a pastime - something fans of a team could share together - and, a family could go out for a day or evening to enjoy - without breaking the bank.
I wish the federal government would remove every tax break for a Stadium and skybox - to see just how honest and generous certain hearts are.
I guess you forgot about the noodle
I guess you forgot about the noodle
Would 100% take that over what has happened to football with the increase in commercial breaks.
I can only imagine how long - and how many - commercials will run when the new media agreement is in place. We’ll sit through four hour games.
I know I'm way late to this party, but a couple thoughts come to mind.
Have you ever looked at pro soccer unies? It looks like the sponsor IS the team.
This is definitely a pet peeve of mine. As only a casual observer of pro soccer, I can't tell you how many teams (likely a large majority) are completely unidentifiable to me because essentially the only identifying information on the jersey is a sponsor name. On at least a couple occasions I've actually Googled "[sponsor name] jersey" in order to identify a team. I get that a number of teams have a little crest or something in the corner of the jersey, but, again, many of those lack information sufficient to identify the team to someone who didn't already know what it was. Maybe international viewers would feel similarly about some of our teams (e.g. college teams) who typically use a symbol instead of printing the team name or mascot, but I feel like at least quite a few have useful information written out on the jersey, be it team name, acronym or mascot.
Also, the real slap in the face is that despite the fact that these sponsored jerseys are little more than a walking billboard advertising the sponsor, they still cost fans a fortune. Honestly, if you want to slap your company name all over the jersey, such that not just the players but also the fans advertise for you, you should be giving the jerseys away for free (or at very low cost)...
Manfred sucks.
He seems to hate the sport of baseball which is odd
What killed the enjoyment of the game for me is the pitcher throwing a pitch every few minutes resulting in games that last longer than some relationships I've had. I probably won't see the ads because I don't have that much time to spare.
Watch the younger pitchers - they get the ball, get set, and throw. Clocks work great in the minor leagues!
Very interested to see how the pitch clock changes the game.
One of the greatest things about The Bird was that despite talking the baseball and other antics on the mound, his games clocked at or under 2 hours.
I saw that Fidrych game against the Yankees on Monday Night Baseball when I was 15. He followed a simple script: Get the ball, throw the ball, keep it down, keep it moving, run off the field at the end of the inning. It was magic to watch, the old stadium was going nuts, and it only took 1 hour and 51 minutes (I looked it up.)
During the COVID lockdown, MLB Network was replaying World Series games from the past. While watching one from the early 80's, I was struck by three things: 1) The batter got in the box and stayed there between pitches. He didn't step out between every pitch to readjust the batting gloves that he'd already readjusted three times before. 2) The players were the size of actual human beings. 3) The ball was in play more. Of course there were strikeouts, but there wasn't an endless parade of walking to the plate, three strikes, and walking back, with the occasional home run in between.
If I recall correctly, The Bird pitched that game on three days rest. Crazy. No wonder he had arm troubles.
Houk should have been drawn and quartered after that season. And anyone involved with the handling of Fidrych.
Hopefully the pitch clock moves up to the majors soon, it's cut minor league games duration very well.
At least you can finish intercourse between pitches.
I don't see the problem here. This is awesome:
Lakers having Wish as their logo is too hilarious. Literally branding themselves as a knockoff.
Don't the players and owners make enough money?
People will never have enough money
And tickets, parking and food will go up also.
Let me try:
The additional revenue provided by these carefully selected brand partners will give teams more resources to spend on improving the league's number one priority: quality fan experience!
As someone who has worked in live event marketing and even (begrudgingly) written these kinds of quotes for press releases, this guy gets it.
I stopped watching when they refused to take away the Astros world series.
Absolutely insane that they let a team openly cheat to win a World Series and did nothing about it. Fuck the Astros.
I don't buy anything that I see an add for. So, fuck late stage capitalism, basically
This guy gets it. We can all complain about it, but in reality, until we vote with our dollars, it aint gonna change.
Exactly. Let's send a message. Don't buy team merch from leagues that put ads on uniforms.
I miss the days of glowing pucks and clashing robots.
Simpler times, those.
Big deal. Your average pro golfer wears numerous logos. I've counted as many as six.
I guess it’s yet another reason for me to not watch the MLB games that I’m already not watching.
Can’t imagine how many Yankees fans and other baseball purists are absolutely up in arms over this, seeing the pinstripes sullied by a freaking ad.
You're right. Nothing is sacred anymore.
Thats 5 of the 6 major sports leagues now (MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, and NASCAR).
You know the NFL owners are getting boners (if they took their viagra at least) about putting patches on their jerseys soon enough. If there is one major sports league that will go overboard to secure that extra money, it’s the NFL after all.
I have always thought the “team patch” on the new LA Rams jersey was a placeholder until they start allowing sponsors on uniforms in the next few years.
I assume it’s only a matter of time until major college programs start to sell what’s left of their souls for corporate sponsors on all team apparel.
Just another reason I’ve really started losing more and more interest in sports these past few years.
Baseball has gone to pot with the universal DH, pitch-clocks, ghost-runners in extra innings, 7-inning double-headers, 3-batter minimums for relief pitchers, etc. Some permanent, some not... yet. MLB should have obeyed the old adage of "if it ain't broken, don't fix it."
Can't wait until DraftKings or Caesars Sportsbook sport their logos on Cincinnati Reds jerseys while Pete Rose is held out of the HOF.
That would be some sweet hypocrisy right there.
Or when they move the Oakland A's to Vegas.
Another reason to not watch.Saw clips of all star game and saw those hideous unis,ugh.Outlawing shifts and extra inning runners on second are horrible.Hit to the opposite field play 17 innings if necessary.BTW will Avila survive this season and get off my lawn.
every day that you are lucky enough to wake up, you have a choice to be positive or to be negative.
Offering a word of advice, find something to be happy about, rather than something to bitch about, especially when what you're bitching about has very little to no affect on your daily life.
Haaaaa! Wait a minute. Who says I'm not happy with my daily life? Why do you assume that's so? Maybe I have this issue in the perfect perspective, since this is a message board for something as trivial as sports fandom.
I'll play your game though. Here's some advice for you: Take your own advice. Wake up and choose not to be a doosh! Find something more meaningful to do than make assumptions about people on a message board.
LOL
Well, Juan Soto just turned down a 15 year extension worth $440M ($440,000,000) because it wasn't enough. Maybe that's why they need ads on the unis? I mean, if half a BILLION $$$ isn't enough for a 23 year old player...
Perhaps MLB economics is out of balance?
VaBlue, I could not agree with you more. I’m fine with capitalism and maximizing earnings - but, it does seem a bit out of control.
I believe he would be paid $182K per game. What’s the median income for a family of four? So, he may make as much in a single game as three families make in a year. There’s too much of an imbalance there.
Whores. They're all whores. I remember when stadium names were sacred, like Tigers Stadium, Yankees Stadium, Wrigley® Field (I know, I know, the Wrigley family owned the Cubs). And the songs we sang were pure: "buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks®."
Putting the snark aside, I've never liked any of this. From the NASCAR driver in the winner's circle thanking all his sponsors while taking a huge drink of Gatorade all the way to naming rights for stadiums, it all feels like an intrusion into the escape that sporting events are. If I click on a video and it starts with an ad, I automatically shut it down. There are some Michigan Twitter accounts that are notorious for this. Do they really think that people are going down to Belle Tire and requiring a set of Goodyear's because the blimp was at Saturday's game at Michigan Stadium? No, they take the set of tires that fits their needs and budget. Drop the advertising, lower your prices, put out a better product and pick up more market share. Being part of a 2.5 minute commercial break during a football game gets you lost in the shuffle or angers people because you're interrupting their game.