The Orlando Magic will wear Disney ads on their jerseys next season
Shortly after the Minnesota Timberwolves announced they had become the seventh team to ink a sponsorship deal for the new advertising patches that NBA teams will wear on their jerseys beginning next season, the Orlando Magic announced they’re No. 8, making a very regionally appropriate deal with a small mom-and-pop company you might have heard of: the Walt Disney Corporation.
[Fantasy Football is open! Sign up now]
The Magic and Walt Disney World have agreed to a three-year deal that will plot a 2½-inch-by-2½-inch ad on the front of Orlando’s jerseys starting with the 2017-18 season, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel:
“We’re incredibly pleased that we’re able to find this opportunity with the most iconic brand in our community but also a multi-national brand,” Magic CEO Alex Martins told the Orlando Sentinel.
“This is an opportunity for us to partner with a local giant that we can expand our international reach with. And, conversely, as we travel around the league and our games are broadcast around the world and ultimately as we travel around the world in future international trips, we can help further expose the Disney brand as tied to the NBA and, specifically, to Disney’s hometown team. So the outcome could not have been any better. This is the perfect match for both of us in terms of branding on an NBA uniform.”
[Follow Ball Don’t Lie on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]
It’s not yet clear how much Disney’s paying the Magic for the ad placement. Reports on deals the other six teams have locked up prior to Tuesday — the Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers — have ranged between $5 million and $10 million per year in jersey revenues. Martins told Robbins of the Sentinel that their deal is “not at the very top in terms of its value, but in the upper echelon in terms of value of the [other] deals.”
As part of the jersey sponsorship agreement, Disney will “expand its presence at the Amway Center,” according to a Magic team statement, adding a “special seating and hospitality area” in which fans can buy annual passes to Walt Disney World during select Magic home games. While NBA teams are not required to sell jerseys with the ads on them at retail, the Magic announced that “Disney-branded Orlando Magic jerseys will also be available for purchase at the Amway Center.” Good news abounds for all the Mario Hezonja fanatics who’ve been holding out on copping an authentic until they could make sure there a 2½-inch square with “Disney” written in script on their left collarbone!
More NBA coverage:
– – – – – – –
Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
