Traditionalists may hate it, but Major League Baseball had plenty of reasons to ignore them and agree to put the Nike swoosh on the front of the uniforms of every MLB team … about a billion of ’em.
According to a report from The New York Post, a 10-year-deal between MLB, Nike and Fanatics that included the league approving the Nike swoosh on the right chest of uniforms across the majors was valued at $1 billion.
Though previous iterations of MLB uniforms feature a manufacturer’s logo on the sleeve, this is the first time a logo has reached the front of the league’s jerseys.
Thanks to shift, demand for the jerseys has increased, Michael Rubin, the founder and executive chairman of Fanatics, told The Post. “Demand is up significantly based on adding the swoosh to the uniform and is bringing in younger consumers to the sport and a marketing halo from Nike,” he said.
InsideHook columnist and sports uniform expert Paul Lukas, the founder of Uni Watch, is against the integration of the swoosh onto MLB uniforms.
“My feeling has always been that the only logo that belongs on a team uniform is the team’s logo,” Lukas told The Post. “A uniform isn’t like other products, or even like other pieces of apparel. It already stands for a brand — the brand of the team. It should never be cluttered up with other branding.”
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