76ers Announce StubHub as 1st Sponsor on NBA Jersey

The Philadelphia 76ers became the first major North American professional sports team to have sponsored jerseys Monday, announcing a partnership with secondary-market ticket provider StubHub. Major League Soccer and the WNBA are among other professional sports leagues in the U.S. that already have jersey sponsorships.

Sixers CEO Scott O'Neil spoke about the partnership in a press release:

"

This marks another groundbreaking first for the Philadelphia 76ers and StubHub. Our brands are now inextricably linked as we create lifelong memories for our fans in Philadelphia and around the world. Our partnership with StubHub continues to generate progressive and forward-thinking platforms created to improve the fan experience and advance our industry. The essence of our relationship with StubHub is our shared culture and ambition to innovate, which drives us to reimagine traditional partnership activation and continually ask, 'what if'?

"

The change will be implemented for the 2017-18 season. StubHub's logo will occupy a small patch (2.5" x 2.5") on the upper left side of the jersey. As Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today noted, Nike, which will be the league's apparel partner in 2017-18, will have its logo on the opposite side. ESPN's Darren Rovell reported that StubHub's deal is worth $15 million over three years.

The NBA became the first Big Four league (NFL, MLB and NHL) to announce jersey sponsorships in April. NBA owners approved a three-year pilot program beginning in 2017-18, and the Sixers-StubHub partnership carries an option to continue if the league decides to make the change permanent.

"Jersey sponsorships provide deeper engagement with partners looking to build a unique association with our teams and the additional investment will help grow the game in exciting new ways," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "We're always thinking about innovative ways the NBA can remain competitive in a global marketplace, and we are excited to see the results of this three -year trial."

Replica jerseys sold to fans will not have the sponsor patch. However, teams can choose to offer jerseys with patches at their official stores. The Sixers said their official store will carry the StubHub-featured apparel.

"We have a very strong opinion that little Scottie, who is nine years old, will want to wear what the players are wearing on the court," O'Neil said, per Rovell.

StubHub and the Sixers already had a deal in place to make the service their official ticket provider. This deal only furthers the StubHub presence around what appears to be a franchise finally digging itself out of the rubble. The Sixers were an NBA-worst 10-72 in 2015-16 but have revamped their front office and have a trove of draft picks over the next few years.

It's unclear whether $5 million per season will be a high watermark or near the low end for deals like this. Nike paid around $1 billion for apparel rights, but that is part of an eight-year partnership and accounts for all 30 teams. Mathematically, that works out to Nike paying each team around $4.17 million per season, so this deal falls in a similar price range.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.