Boston Celtics became the third team to get sponsorship deal in their uniform. The Celtics will have logo of General Electric to be patched in their uniform starting next season.
The sponsorship deal was reached on Tuesday Jan. 24 between Boston Celtics and the General Electric. According to Bloomberg , General Electric will pay more than $7 million a year to have company’s iconic logo patched on the Boston Celtics iconic uniform.
More than that, General Electric will also provide its services in data analytics to Boston Celtics. However neither the company nor the Celtics reveal the value of the deal.
General Electric relocated the company headquarter from New York to Boston last year. When the company moved to Boston, the Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca approached his college mate who is now General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt as reported by Boston Globe. Pagliuca knew that GE wanted to reshape the image to become the leader in digital industry.
Pagliuca offered an interesting and new concept to Immelt in August. He asked GE to become the first sponsor for Boston Celtics jersey, and become the technology partner for Boston Celtics as well.
The concept is entirely new to the GE and Immelt. So he discussed the possibility to his maangement team and later decided to become the sponsor for Boston Celtics. The pair between the most decorated team in NBA history and one of the most respected corporation in U.S. is a great combination. The GE will place their iconic circular logo in the jersey of the 17-time NBA champion.
Boston Celtics becomes the third team who stroke the sponsorship deal in the jersey after Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings. The 76ers signed the three-year sponsorship deal with StubHub online tiket sales while the Kings made the deal with Blue Diamond Almond in October.
Since April 15, 2016 NBA allowed the team to negotiate sponsorship to put the company logo on the team’s uniform. The corporate logo will only take 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches size on the team jersey.
Watch the report regarding the first advertising deal on team jersey between Philadelphia 76ers and StubHub below:
