The NBA All Star Game is coming this Sunday, and it will feature something no one has ever seen before in the Big Four Sports. The All Star Game jerseys will have advertisements. It’s the first step in what may eventually be a permanent feature on NBA uniforms. 

Now, this is a common occurrence in other professional sports. Manchester United wears Chevrolet jerseys. The WNBA has advertisements on their jerseys. The MLS has a team named after a sponsor in the NY/NJ Red Bulls. Every NASCAR driver is a walking billboard.  Despite all of this, it seems that baseball will sooner eliminate the DH than have advertising on their jerseys (non-Japan games aside). 

The seminal moment on this issue arose in 2004.  Initially, MLB entered into a deal where the logo for the movie Spider-Man 2 would appear on the bases:

  
The fans lost their minds. The public outcry was so fervent that two days after the announcement MLB and the movie studio announced the advertisement would not appear on the bases. Over a decade later, it appears that MLB is no closer to advertisements on the field or on the uniforms. For what it’s worth, Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that he does not see advertisements on jerseys happening. 

That’s a good thing because jersey advertisements are a problem waiting to happen. 

It was less than a decade ago the naming rights issue to Citi Field was a hot button issue. The Mets and Citigroup came under increased scrutiny over the naming right deal because Citigroup had just received a taxpayer bailout. There were cries for the Mets to return the money and find a new sponsor. The outcry would most likely have been even worse if the Citigroup logo was on the Mets jerseys. For those that took issue with the deal, the jerseys would’ve been a constant reminder of that. 

As luck would have it, the Mets couldn’t have a Citi Field patch on their uniforms as it was not permitted by MLB. Instead, the Mets had the “Inaugural Season” patch instead of a “Citi Field” patch. 

  
That season the Mets caught more flak for a poorly designed patch than their deal with Citigroup, so to an extent, MLB’s policy had a positive effect. 

So while the NBA goes forward with their plan to advertise on jerseys, MLB will continue to keep the field and uniforms free from advertising. At the end of the day, I prefer MLB’s line of thinking. I’m loathe to think of a scandal involving an advertiser that became the focus of each and every Mets game. It was bad enough in 2009. It won’t be and better in 2016 and beyond with Twitter and the like. 

So no, advertisements do not belong on MLB uniforms. I’m glad it’s going to stay that way. 

Editor’s Note: this article was first published on metsmerizedonline.com