Sources: NBA expected to OK ads on jerseys

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NBA owners are scheduled to vote this week on putting ads on jerseys for the 2017-18 season, multiple sources told ESPN.

The measure is expected to pass, according to sources. Several teams have begun testing the market to sell the potentially lucrative ads, which would be placed in a 2.5-by-2.5-inch patch on the left shoulder.

A proposal was presented to the owners in February during a meeting at the All-Star Game in Toronto with the expectation that a decision would be reached at this week’s board of governors meeting, held in New York on Thursday and Friday.

The initial proposal to owners was for teams to keep 50 percent of the sponsorship money from the jersey ads and for 50 percent to be added to the revenue-sharing pool for all teams.

The league has been moving to this point for at least five years, and it has been a project that commissioner Adam Silver has spearheaded. The NBA recently signed new national television and apparel deals where the ads were part of the negotiations. In 2017, Nike will take over from Adidas as the league’s uniform provider when the ads are expected to debut.

“It’s manifest destiny,” Silver told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an interview last month. “So let’s begin by saying this isn’t going to affect the competition. What we’re talking about is a patch on the jersey. And one of the reasons we want to do it is that it creates an additional investment in those companies in the league … the amplification we get from those sponsors, those marketing partners of the league, who want to attach to our teams and our players.

“But once they put their name on the jerseys, they’ll then use their media to promote the NBA extensively. That’s probably the greatest reason for us to do it.”

The owners also are expected to be updated on the situation surrounding the 2017 All-Star Game scheduled for Charlotte. Silver issued a statement last month criticizing the passage of a new North Carolina law that wiped out an anti-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte. He said the league did “not yet know what impact it will have on our ability to successfully host the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte.”

Following that thin-veiled warning, there has been no official update or possible timeline put forth from the league. The league recently announced the 2018 All-Star Game would be played in Los Angeles.

Also expected to be addressed at the meeting is the state of bargaining talks with the National Basketball Players Association. The league and the union have been quietly in negotiations for months as the sides look to work out a new collective bargaining agreement before December, when both parties have an opt-out clause to end the current CBA in 2017.

There has been some progress in the talks, and recently the sides agreed to shorten this summer’s free agent July moratorium period by five days. With the expected passage of the jersey ads measure, those CBA negotiations are expected to take over as the centerpiece of NBA business going forward.

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