The Golden State Warriors are the cream of the crop in the NBA. No time has more eyes on it, no time has a more talented or as deep a roster, and no team boasts Stephen Curry, inarguably the best shooter the game has ever seen, and easily the biggest star its produced in about a decade, since a guy named Kevin Durant was drafted out of the University of Texas. If you’ve been keeping up with recent events, you know why Durant, too, makes the Warriors that much more of a draw.
That said, it makes sense why the asking price for advertisers to feature their logos on the Dubs’ jerseys is sky high. The Philadelphia 76ers were the first team to announce their corporate sponsorship–with StubHub–and the deal was revealed to be worth around $5 million. Philly hasn’t been good in years, and they aren’t a very large market, so it wasn’t considered to be a benchmark, but it still pales in comparison to what the Warriors are asking.
According to ESPN, Golden State is asking teams to cough up between $15-$20 million, which is a price tag that rivals some of the contracts of their own players. (In fact, should a company agree to those terms, they’ll officially be paying the organization more than it pays 2-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry per season.) For what it’s worth, the Warriors will likely be rivaled by only the reigning championship Cavs as far a national TV playing time, and they boast two of the most recognizable faces in sports in Curry and Durant.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see who’s willing to cough up that dough. Who knows, it might very well be a solid investment.