Promotional Culture within the NBA

Did You Know?

In 2021, the global sponsorship market was worth $65.8 billion dollars, and the sports industry completely dominated the market as they have captured 70% of its market share ($46.2 billion). This can be seen in the graph below that shows many sports celebrities earn more money on endorsement deals, than on their player salary.

Note: Light Blue is player salary and Dark Blue is endorsement deals.

Why does the sports industry dominate the sponsorship market? Using examples from the NBA.

Sports celebrities like NBA superstars Stephen Curry, Lebron James, Russell Westbrook etc, have become a very valuable piece of promotional culture in the sports industry as they represent the representation, endorsement, publicity, communication, entertainment, and appearance industry. The reason NBA players nowadays dresses like the picture above is because they are actually fashion icons, rather than just a basketball player.

NBA players are known globally and fans keep an eye out on their everyday lives. Therefore, this is a huge opportunity for brands like Nike and Puma to have these sports celebrities to endorse their brands. Moreover, sport events can gather huge crowds that also generate an opportunity for brands to advertise themselves.

To sum up, the reason the sports industry is dominating the sponsorship market is because the players have huge publicity that allows brands to pay them a huge amount of money for marketing purposes. It benefits both sides as brands can spread awareness of their brands and the players can get endorsement deal up to a few million dollars.