Report: NBA approves more camera-visible ads
NBA officials approved teams selling on-court advertising in front of team benches and on top of backboards, Sports Business Daily reported Monday.
The two areas are considered high-profile space since they are camera-visible.
Specifics of the deal were not disclosed, but it is reportedly a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract.
The deal could be up to $2 million per year, depending on which advertising market the team is in, according to a team executive.
The new deal includes that the advertising will be sold to individual teams, but league brands would replace the local ones during nationally-televised games.
For the 2013-14 season, the new advertising deal will be on a trial basis and subject to future changes.
NBA officials would not comment, but several team executives said at the owners' meetings in April that they support it.
"This will be a tremendous opportunity for our teams," said Alex Martins, chief executive officer of the Orlando Magic. "This platform to grow inventory of camera-visible signage will allow us all to continue to grow our business for our teams and players. I applaud the league for opening up this opportunity for our teams and our clients."
About half of the league's 32 teams sold new LED advertising signs on their basket reinforcements, which was previously unavailable to them for sales. Some teams also rearranged their scorer's table to allow for more rotational ads.
