The New York Yankees held their first home game of the 2024 MLB season on Friday afternoon. Their Opening Day festivities included one of the worst promotions of all-time.
They wanted to charge money to put a sponsor patch on their jerseys.
Seriously. The Yankees wanted fans to pay $15 to get a free advertisement for STARR Insurance permanently placed on their left sleeve.
I don’t know whether this was New York’s idea or STARR’s idea, but it is remarkably dumb.
I am a Yankees fan who owns multiple jerseys. Not to brag.
Never once did I think, “wow, this jersey is so inauthentic because it lacks the sponsorship patch.” Never once did I want to add free advertising for a company I don’t know to any of my jerseys. We, the fans, didn’t even want patches on the professional jerseys to begin with because of how ugly they look. We understand that they are an additional source of income and have accepted that they are not going away.
That doesn’t mean that we want them on our jerseys! Especially when we have to pay for it!
This might be a different conversation if the patches are free. I could see myself being lured into a free sponsorship patch after wandering into the concourse to grab another beer.
I would not even consider paying money for a ticket, paying money for some hot dogs, paying money for a few beers, and then paying money to become a walking advertisement. It’s legitimately laughable.
The STARR Insurance patches are an eyesore to begin with. That is reason enough to avoid getting one on my jersey at all cost. I would actually prefer to pay money not to get the patch than to pay money to get the patch. I want my jersey to be advertisement free.
New York’s sponsorship patch push is hilarious. It is embarrassing.