Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 and Jalen Williams #8 of the Oklahoma City Thunder react at the bench towards the Minnesota Timberwolves throughout the fourth quarter in Game Five of the Western Conference Finals of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center on May 28, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Matthew Stockman | Getty Images
NBA groups notched $1.62 billion in sponsorship income this season — an building up of 8% since closing 12 months, and 91% from $850 million 5 years in the past, in line with third-party information company SponsorUnited.
While the amount of offers used to be up simply 2.5% since closing 12 months, the partnerships were given larger and extra strategic, consistent with the NBA Marketing Partnerships 2024-2025 file from SponsorUnited, which tracks international sports activities and leisure sponsorships.
That haul remains to be shy, then again, of the NFL, which had just about $2.5 billion in group sponsorship income, a 6% building up from the prior season, in line with SponsorUnited.
A key a part of the NBA’s income upward push is the proliferation of sponsor patches on group jerseys, stated Bob Lynch, founder and CEO of the information company.
The collection of jersey patch offers — not unusual in world football and more and more fashionable within the NBA since their creation in 2017 — greater than doubled year-over-year closing season. There have been six first-time NBA jersey companions, contributing greater than $80 million in new spending this 12 months, in line with the file. The offers usually run 3 years on moderate, Lynch stated.
“It was sort of this mad dash to bring in these deals, which generate a lot of buzz and a lot of revenue,” stated Lynch. “These partnerships can be a quarter of a billion dollars of incremental revenue that was generated just from 11 deals that were sold. So it just shows the continued viability and interest in the NBA just on these jersey patches alone.”
The 2024 opening of the Los Angeles Clippers’ Intuit Dome has additionally helped to pressure up total sponsorship income.
“Anytime these leagues have a big stadium that opens or an expansion team, it just adds so much revenue to the league,” stated Lynch.
“Between jersey patches and the Clippers’ stadium, it was like the equivalent of bringing in three new teams to the league that generated revenue,” he stated.
There have been 450 manufacturers that entered NBA sponsorships for the primary time this season. The maximum enlargement got here from manufacturers within the development, alcohol and generation sectors, in line with SponsorUnited.
Rakuten and JPMorgan Chase rank because the top-spending manufacturers within the league, in line with the file. Chase is the world sponsor for the Golden State Warriors, whilst Rakuten has a patch at the group’s jersey.
The sponsorship building up comes at the heels of the league’s $77 billion media rights deal, during which video games shall be introduced throughout Disney’s platforms like ESPN, Comcast‘s NBC broadcast and Peacock, and Amazon‘s Prime Video starting subsequent season. The newest media rights deal displays a heavy emphasis on streaming and a broader enlargement on broadcast TV.
Star energy
Andre Iguodala, #9; Stephen Curry, #30; and Klay Thompson, #11, of the Golden State Warriors high-five one some other throughout the sport towards the Boston Celtics on the Oakland Arena in Oakland, California, on March 8, 2017.
Noah Graham | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
Individual big name avid gamers have beckoned one of the crucial largest endorsement offers, which did not give a contribution to the group sponsorship overall, however incessantly serves as a gateway for manufacturers to in the end strike offers with groups, stated Lynch.
“What we’re seeing is that players are almost becoming teams themselves in the number of sponsorship deals they have,” stated Lynch.
Initially, big name avid gamers and their huge social media followings have been regarded as a risk to total league and group sponsorship income. Instead, they have supplied a spice up, stated Lynch.
“It’s created a larger ecosystem for brands to enter into the NBA space, sort of dip their toe in the water,” he stated.
Athletes incessantly ink endorsement offers that may closing only some months, versus group sponsorships which are longer-term. The exception is generational avid gamers, like Steph Curry and LeBron James, who’ve the leverage for long-term offers.
This season the Philadelphia 76ers’ Jared McCain inked 30 endorsement offers, probably the most by means of a participant in one season in NBA historical past, in line with SponsorUnited.
Other peak NBA athletes who led in endorsement offers come with 3 New York Knicks avid gamers — Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson — who powered the group to the Eastern Conference Finals this season.
Golden State Warriors’ Curry used to be additionally a number of the top-endorsed NBA avid gamers. Curry noticed his trade occupation trajectory exchange when he inked a maintain Under Armour in 2013, which used to be price about $4 million consistent with 12 months, CNBC lately reported. In 2023 Curry prolonged the deal and won 8.8 million Under Armour stocks, valued at $75 million on the time.
As an entire, the Warriors ranked along the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers as a part of a handful of U.S. groups with probably the most profitable sponsorships companies.