SBJ Marketing: All-Star break sees MLB ahead in the count

"If it's true you learn from adversity, then I must be the smartest SOB in the world." -- Former MLB skipper Gene Mauch, the winningest MLB manager to have never taken home a league pennant or World Series title.

Since the impending All-Star Game is the baseball season’s mythical halfway point, I thought it instructive to check in with MLB CRO Noah Garden for a commercial update.

Pace of play was a top concern entering the season, though early on there was some concern expressed that games more than 30 minutes shorter would mean fewer ads. Garden’s counter: "If anything, it will increase revenue, since ratings are up," he said.

He also noted an 8% attendance increase as of today alongside those improved ratings on Fox and ESPN, especially within the coveted 18-34 demo.

As for any new marketing inventory within the ASG itself? While MLB experimented with paid ads on jerseys and helmets during the World Baseball Classic, don't expect similar placement during the ASG in Seattle.

Still, Mastercard, an MLB corporate sponsor since 1997 and the ASG’s presenting sponsor since 2016, will have a sleeve ad patch. But that inclusion comes via Mastercard's logo being incorporated with the ASG logo on players' sleeves for the first time.

The Nike-branded jerseys are of a new fabrication that will be leaguewide by next season. Retail versions of the ASG jerseys will not have Mastercard branding.

While I'm on the subject of ad patches, the Guardians' recent deal with Marathon Petroleum made them the 12th MLB team with a sleeve ad in what has become a crowded and sluggish market for camera-visible, um, anything. "By next season, I see us being well ahead of where we originally projected," Garden said.

This was the first season in which MLB permitted the 4x4 jersey ads. Still to be heard from are large-market teams including the Yankees, Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers, Rangers, Phillies and Giants, making some wonder whether that’s a function of price or marketing conditions. I've also heard some club sellers grumbling about much of the patch money is coming from existing team sponsors, rather than new and incremental dollars.

As for replacing the FTX billboards on MLB umpires: "We’re having real conversations there, but I would not expect anything there until next season," Garden said.

MLB entered the season without five-year incumbent sponsor Geico, a leading brand in one of the most-active categories, and the loss of top-dollar sponsor FTX. Nonetheless, Garden said sponsorship revenues were still on pace to meet or exceed goals, helped by deals with Booking.com, Casamigos, SeatGeek, Zoom and Sage.

Like many, MLB is exploring whether AI will shift from cocktail-party discussion fodder to sponsorship category any time soon. “You'll see some of the leaders, like Microsoft and Google, deploy AI within some of their existing technologies first," Garden said. "We’re having lots of conversations there in ticketing and so many other areas."

During a recent National Sports Forum Seminar, it was revealed that NFL teams collectively surpassed $2 billion in sponsorship revenue last fiscal year for the first time. Some researchers had estimated that the NFL’s sponsorship coffers had swelled to that extent, but this was the first we recall the league acknowledging that heady number.

Beer, wine and spirits combined for the most NFL team sponsorship deals, followed by tech, media, food, and vehicle brands.

We’ll be interested to see what the ceiling is on team deals -- or if there is one. But considering the current economic concerns and the fact that there’s no longer a buoyant category -- ala crypto -- pushing pricing of everything else, “what we’re looking to do is future-proof that and keep it going in the right direction as far a new revenue generation," said Alex Brucki of NFL club business development.

Sports & Fitness Industry Association President and CEO Tom Cove advises that there’s another side to the growth of women’s sports in the offing -- the growth of sports apparel brands built expressly for women.

“Dick’s (Sporting Goods) is doing huge work in this, and so are a lot of companies not necessarily brands you have heard of heard of yet," Cove said. "But that is one of the major areas of industry opportunity we are seeing. The question is whether that opportunity will be filled mainly by those new brands or the dominant footwear and apparel names.”

Other sectors to watch, according to Cove: The gamification of everything, the continued growth of soccer amid the build-up to the 2026 World Cup in North America and flag football. "I could see state high school championships in girls flag football within 10 years," Cove said.

Following the recent sale of The Switch Enterprises to India’s Tata Communications, Joe Cohen advises that he’ll continue as president of sports at the company, along with being chair of private equity firm Brand Velocity Group’s’ sports vertical (not to mention serving on the boards of MSG Sports and AMC Networks).

Noting Tata’s long-term-lease at a 65,000-square-foot former Comcast facility in Glendale, Calif., Tata is “planting a serious flag in the U.S. and using our exerts to augment their expertise around the world, Cohen said.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is Tata Communication's sister company, is a heavy player in the marathon space in the U.S. TCS is title sponsor of the New York City Marathon, and it also sponsors the Boston Marathon and Chicago Marathon, per info from SBJ Atlas.

• Former NFL exec Mark Zimmerman joined the Zinc Agency as head of talent at the experience/hospitality firm, which operates in the sports, music, fashion, culinary and entertainment fields. Zimmerman has worked as a talent agent for CAA, ICM and Headline Media Management since 2007.

• USA Pickleball signed pain relief brand Biofreeze to a two-year sponsorship agreement that will make Biofreeze the title sponsor of the USA Pickleball National Championships, reports SBJ's Chris Smith.

• The Braves' Nike City Connect jersey release has generated the most social media value among the team releases this season to date, per data from Zoomph. The team had 18 posts around the release, drawing 638,120 engagements, which equated to $435,519 in social media value. Rounding out the top five were the Reds, Mariners, Rangers and Orioles, respectively.