The Philadelphia 76ers alienated, outraged, and creeped out sports fans on Monday when the team rolled out jerseys featuring a logo patch from StubHub, making the team the first in the NBA and major professional sports in the U.S. to have a jersey advertisement.
sixers went from being a weird quasi-renegade franchise to the NBA's sniveling lapdog real quick
— Ben Detrick (@bdetrick) May 16, 2016
At midnight on Monday, the team tweeted a GIF of Big Betsy, its mascot version of Betsy Ross, sewing something onto a Moses Malone jersey. Fans on Twitter were mostly creeped out.
@Sixers pic.twitter.com/8MN5bZoEVv
— josh steinberg (@PhillyStein_) May 16, 2016
@Sixers this is terrifying
— Zakaveli (@yaboizachz) May 16, 2016
Eventually, the Sixers revealed the object to be a 2½-by-2½-inch StubHub logo patch in a video featuring Big Betsy, a dancing Benjamin Franklin, and Franklin the Dog.
Big Betsy hooked it up with the super clean @StubHub patch. ????????#StubHubSixers
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) May 16, 2016
[ ?? » https://t.co/MmFmSpdRWd ]https://t.co/M0BrOklWS5
The Sixers hope to use StubHub’s jersey sponsorship to enhance the fan experience, the team said in a statement. But supporters clearly had different opinions than management.
@Sixers @StubHub how does this benefit us as fans though??
— WENTZ WAGON LETS GO (@CampfireSauce) May 16, 2016
@Sixers @StubHub how out of touch must you be to run this. everyone hates jersey adds. why rub it in the fans noses.
— thedealerkuo (@thedealerkuo) May 16, 2016
"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'?" said Philadelphia 76ers CEO Scott O’Neil.
ESPN reported StubHub bought the "ad space" for all three seasons of the NBA’s pilot program for $5 million a year beginning in the 2017-2018 season. The team has an option to extend the contract with StubHub should the league continue the initiative.
