NBA Teams Generate $285.8 million from jersey patch deals for 2024-25 season: GlobalData
14 February 2025: At the start of 2024-25 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, all but three of the 30 competing teams boast an official patch partner. The league has permitted patch partners on jerseys since start of the 2017-18 season and teams are financially benefitting from the additional sales opportunity. Overall, patch partnership deals are estimated to generate $285.8 million across the league, with teams averaging $10.6 million a season from these rights, according to GlobalData.
GlobalData’s latest report, “The Business of the NBA 2024-25,” reveals that, based on the biggest individual market in the US, the New York Knicks are linked to the largest valued patch deal this season. Its partnership with ‘Experience Abu Dhabi’ is new for the 2024-25 season and valued at $30 million a season. For the brand, it is a deal based around tourism, as it looks to boost the global visibility of Abu Dhabi as a popular destination and comes off the back of several sports sponsorship rights.
Jake Kemp, Sport Analyst at GlobalData, comments “Arrival of ‘Experience Abu Dhabi’ in the league highlights a global push of the Middle Eastern brands in global sports markets. The size of its deal with the Knicks holds a higher value too because of its extended branding on the team warm-up shirts and the ability to use trademarks against the Knicks and its home venue – Madison Square Garden.
The Charlotte Hornets, Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs are the only NBA teams this season without a patch partner. It marks a second straight season for the Clippers, which represents significant missed financial revenue, particularly given its strong city (LA) marketplace value.
The Clippers most recently ended its patch partnership with ‘Honey’ at the end of the 2022-23 season, which was worth $8 million. Its lack of replacement since, however, suggests that they are overvaluing their patch rights. The Hornets and the Spurs have yet to replace their expired patch partnership from the 2023-24 season, with ‘Feastables’ and ‘Self’ respectively, worth $5 million and $10 million a season.
Kemp continues “Patch partnerships offer great exposure for brands, with prime branding on popular sports jerseys. With NBA teams playing 82 games a season, these brands are receiving strong exposure regularly and for a long period of time each season. NBA athletes are also seen as some of the biggest names in world sport and most followed on social media.”
Patch partnerships were only introduced in the NBA in 2017, and every team has in this time signed a patch partner. Their popularity continues, as teams remain committed to not missing out on the multi-millions on offer. Across the league, there were 11 new patch partnerships signed ahead of the 2024-25 season.
