O’s expect to add jersey patch sponsor

The Orioles are engaged in discussions to have a jersey patch sponsorship deal in place by the end of the 2024 season, according to senior vice president and chief revenue officer T.J. Brightman.

Though several companies are still in the mix, the team is exploring deals with both local and global brands to decide on the first sponsor to have its logo displayed on a sleeve of the jerseys Orioles players and coaches wear during games.

“This is a high level-type partnership with a company that will really physically be embedded and part of the fabric of our uniform and taking advantage of a major brand opportunity like the jersey patch with a franchise like the Orioles, it’s an opportunity that we’re talking with companies that are both locally based and global as well,” Brightman said in a phone interview Friday. “And I fully expect one company will be on our jersey before the end of the season.”

MLB allowed teams to add sponsored jersey patches beginning in 2023, stipulating that they be no bigger than four square inches and placed on either the left or right sleeve. The Orioles currently have a team logo that is on the left sleeve. Alcohol, betting and media brands are prohibited from being jersey sponsors and both MLB and the MLB Players Association must approve all patches before they’re introduced. Teams cannot agree to multiple patches, either with more than one brand or alternate logos, in a single season.

Seventeen MLB teams have already signed jersey sponsorship agreements. According to Sportico, the New York Yankees’ deal with Starr Insurance is the most lucrative in the sport at $25 million per year. The Boston Red Sox agreed to a deal with insurance provider MassMutual for approximately $17 million annually, per Front Office Sports.

Among the teams with new deals so far in 2024 include the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers, who signed with Dallas-based Energy Transfer, and the Kansas City Royals, who partnered with Oklahoma-based gas station chain QuikTrip. Fifteen of the MLB jersey sponsor patches represent companies based out of their respective team’s home region.

While the smaller-market Orioles might have to settle for a lower number than that of the Yankees or Red Sox, the addition of a jersey sponsor patch would still introduce a significant new revenue stream for the club. Forbes estimated that the Orioles’ 2023 revenue was $328 million, 18th in baseball, with an operating income of $99 million that was the most of any MLB team.

Jersey patches have become more common among North American sports leagues in recent years. NBA teams have had advertisements on their jerseys since 2017-18, the year the league switched from Adidas to Nike as its jersey provider. The NHL introduced sponsored helmet stickers during the 2020-21 season to make up for revenue lost because of the coronavirus pandemic and implemented them for good the following year.

The introduction of a jersey patch would still mark a landmark alteration to the Orioles’ uniforms, which have included sleeve patches before such as the “EBW” lettering that honored former owner Edward Bennett Williams after his death in 1988 and the “Baltimore 200” patches that celebrated the city’s 200th anniversary in 1997. Just last season, the Orioles wore a “5” patch in remembrance of late Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson. However, never has an Orioles jersey patch featured imagery related to another company.

The sponsor patch would be included on authentic Nike jerseys sold in the Orioles’ team stores at Camden Yards, though those jerseys are stocked in advance and might not be available for purchase with the patch until 2025. Replica jerseys, also designed by Nike, sold both at the team stores and through retailers such as Fanatics would not include the patch.

MLB jerseys have been the subject of scrutiny by fans and players alike this season after Nike, which designed them, and Fanatics, their manufacturer, produced new Nike Vapor Premier uniforms intended to be more breathable and flexible than the thicker jerseys of old. Instead, players have bemoaned the quality of the fabric, the size of the lettering and overall poor look.