Bears Slap Ads On Practice Jerseys
North Shore hospital first buyer of new jersey ad space
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Jay Cutler's practice jersey, brought to you by [your company name here].
It's a bad economy. We all know this. But the emphasis on "bad economy" is probably no more readily apparent than in the NFL. For years, the NFL has been sports' one true moneymaking machine. Nothing could derail the NFL, could it?
The league itself is still in OK shape, but the Great Recession (or whatever we're calling it this week) is taking a bite out of some teams' bottom lines. Jersey sales are down, season ticket packages are losing value, and generally people are spending less money on NFL stuff, most of which is pretty expensive, actually, when you really look at it.
So how do NFL teams make up that money? The Bears have gone forward with one solution: putting ads on practice jerseys. Every little bit helps, we guess.
The first buyers of the prestigious Bears practice jersey ad space? North Shore University HealthSystem. When the Bears take the field in Bourbonnais this summer for training camp, the left side of their chest will display the North Shore logo bright and clear. The Bears aren't the first team to do this; the Titans did it last year, and the league officially gave the go-ahead to teams interested in the practice this summer.
It's a good idea, actually. No one cares about the ad-free sanctity of the Bears' practice jerseys, do they? But it does beg the question: How long until NFL jerseys -- in the Bears' case, that classic blue and orange stripe -- has a big fat ad on the middle of the chest, a la European pro soccer? How long until players look like NASCAR drivers? Can it be that far off?
Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.
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Posted Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 1:35 PM CST
