There will be a new pitch next season.
The San Diego Padres became the first team to announce a deal for ads on their uniforms, saying on Tuesday that they will wear patches with a logo from Motorola on the right sleeves of their jerseys.
The 30 teams were given the right to sell patch ads on uniforms and sticker ads on helmets under the new collective bargaining agreement. The sides agreed on an amendment to the Official Baseball Rules that would prohibit patches or designs for commercial advertisements.
If the patch or design is approved in advance, a club can license to third-party commercial sponsors the right to place their name, logos and/or marks on the uniform.
The helmet ads may start this year with the playoffs, as MLB decided to start the uniform ads with the 2023 season.
Padres CEO Eric Greupner said in a statement Tuesday that the logo on the jersey is a perfect match for the Padres brand.
Baseball has had ads in the past. The New York Mets and Chicago Cubs wore helmet decals for the AM/PM convenience store chain for the opening series in Tokyo in 2000, according to uni-watch.com. In 2004, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox both had sleeve ads for the Japanese electronics company Ricoh, while the Oakland Athletics and SeattleMariners both had Boeing on their sleeves.
Eintracht Braunschweig became the first German club with advertising in 1973.
During the 1977-78 season, Jersey ads began with Scotland's Hibs, while the English League fields had an agreement with the Japanese company Hitachi ahead of the 1979-80 season.
According to football pink.net, Real Madrid started shirt advertising in Spain in 1982, and in Italy in 1979 under a deal with Ariston.
In 2007, Major League Soccer became the first of the major North American leagues to allow jersey ads. Real Salt Lake was the first to announce a deal.
The NBA began selling sponsorship logos for the upcoming season. The NHL began jersey advertising this season.
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