2 days ago
NBA Team Sponsorship Revenue Hits $1.6 Billion In 2024-2025 Season
NBA franchises secured $1.62 billion in team sponsorship revenue for the 2024-25 season, an 8% uptick year-over-year. That's also a 91% increase over the past five years, according to a new report released by SponsorUnited, a sports and entertainment sponsorship intelligence and data firm.
The three team sponsorship categories which grew the most year-over-year included technology ($22 million), followed by healthcare ($8.2 million) and auto ($8 million).
The NBA report, which was authored by SponsorUnited's marketing, business, intelligence and analytics groups, incorporated data via its SaaS platform from September 2021 to April 2025.
SponsorUnited found that jersey patch revenue contributed, in large part, to NBA teams' business success off the court in 2024-25. Patches first debuted during the 2017-18 campaign to bolster teams' sponsorship offerings to current and prospective partners. This season, there were 11 new jersey patch deals featuring six brands — such as Amica Insurance (Boston Celtics), Reviver (Sacramento Kings) and Brightside Windows (Portland Trail Blazers) — who were also first-time NBA partners.
The new agreements reached over $80 million in total spending across the NBA, which will see its new media rights deals with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video begin in 2025-26.
Meanwhile, almost 450 brands partnered with the NBA for the first time during this recent season. Sponsorship categories that saw the most growth in terms of new brand partners included construction (37%), alcohol (35%), technology (31%), hotel, restaurant and leisure (31%) and government (30%).
The Golden State Warriors' jersey patch partner, Rakuten, and naming rights sponsor, JPMorgan Chase, were the two biggest-spending brands, according to the report. AB InBev, Toyota and Bibigo, a Korean food company featured on the Los Angeles Lakers jersey, rounded out the top five spenders. Toyota is a sponsor with more than half of the league's 30 teams.
Among the major U.S. men's professional sports leagues, the NBA sits in third behind the NFL and MLB, whose teams secured nearly $2.5 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively, in overall team sponsorship revenue.
From a player perspective, Philadelphia 76ers rookie guard Jared McCain had the most endorsement deals (30) of any NBA player, per SponsorUnited. New York Knicks forward Karl Anthony Towns (23), shooting guard Josh Hart (19) and point guard Jalen Brunson (18) were also among the top endorsed NBA athletes.
