Via Sports Business Journal, the league is moving to place advertising on the top of backboards and along the baselines near team benches for the 2013-14 season.
A league source said no specific valuation has been assigned to the new sales areas, but multiyear, multimillion-dollar deals are expected, with teams signing package deals that would provide an advertiser with visibility in both places. One team executive said the deals could range anywhere from mid-six figures to around $2 million annually, acknowledging that the value of the signage will vary widely by market.
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“This will be a tremendous opportunity for our teams,” said Alex Martins, chief executive officer of the Orlando Magic. “This platform to grow inventory of camera-visible signage will allow us all to continue to grow our business for our teams and players. I applaud the league for opening up this opportunity for our teams and our clients.”
A catch to it: The advertising is only for locally broadcasted games, so they'll be local ads. So when a nationally televised game on TNT, ABC or ESPN happens, the league will remove the ads. This is no different than how the league does that for the scorer's table for nationally televised games.
Fans are already squemish about advertising interrupting the supposed "purity" of the game, but let's face facts: Any sports league, and franchise, is about grubbing as much money as possible. There are dollar bills to be made here, y'all, and the league is taking advantage.
One thing Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don't Lie excellently points out is how any time a camera angle zooms in on a player on the bench or to show one of those cool replays from above the backboard, we're all going to be cynical that they're just trying to get us to see the ad for Danny's Bail Bonds.
Get used to it, though. This is the path the league is on. A televised NBA game is like prime real estate, and every piece of property is an opportunity to make an extra million or two.
