NBA adds ads to courts

Image courtesy of You Only Blog Once

Starting with the 2014 NBA season, teams will be allowed to sell advertising space on their home courts and backboards. No values have been set yet, but, according to Business Insider, the NBA believes this could be a $100+ million income-generator.

Just think, the next time Kobe’s sitting on the bench with a towel over his head, reminiscing about the good ol’ days when Shaq was around, he could be tapping his personalized size 14s on a Kia ad. Or when LeBron dunks on someone, he can reach for the stars — or the Starbucks ad at the top of the backboard. Why not, right?

Professional sports is entertainment but, more important, it’s big business. As Bleacher Report points out, these ads could generate enough new income for your favorite team to sign the next Big Three. Psst, LeBron, you wanna bring your talents to South Philly? It’s almost like South Beach.

Hey, it could be worse. The original proposal was to have advertisements on the players’ jerseys, but that got nixed. Soccer fans know that ads and logos on jerseys is just the name of the game, but that just hasn’t broken into the major American sports yet. But who knows? It may not be long before we’re rooting for the Atlanta Coca-Colas, the Philadelphia Comcasts or the Boston Dunkin’ Donuts.