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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 and Jalen Williams #8 of the Oklahoma City Thunder react on the bench against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the fourth quarter in Game Five of the Western Conference Finals of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center on May 28, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Matthew Stockman | Getty Images
NBA teams notched $1.62 billion in sponsorship revenue this season — an increase of 8% since last year, and 91% from $850 million five years ago, according to third-party data firm SponsorUnited.
While the volume of deals was up just 2.5% since last year, the partnerships got bigger and more strategic, per the NBA Marketing Partnerships 2024-2025 report from SponsorUnited, which tracks global sports and entertainment sponsorships.
That haul is still shy, however, of the NFL, which had nearly $2.5 billion in team sponsorship revenue, a 6% increase from the prior season, according to SponsorUnited.
A key part of the NBA's revenue rise is the proliferation of sponsor patches on team jerseys, said Bob Lynch, founder and CEO of the data firm.
The number of jersey patch deals — commonplace in international soccer and increasingly popular in the NBA since their introduction in 2017 — more than doubled year over year last season. There were six first-time NBA jersey partners, contributing more than $80 million in new spending this year, according to the report. The deals typically run three years on average, Lynch said.
"It was sort of this mad dash to bring in these deals, which generate a lot of buzz and a lot of revenue," said Lynch. "These partnerships can be a quarter of a billion dollars of incremental revenue that was generated just from 11 deals that were sold. So it just shows the continued viability and interest in the NBA just on these jersey patches alone."
The 2024 opening of the Los Angeles Clippers' Intuit Dome has also helped to drive up overall sponsorship revenue.
"Anytime these leagues have a big stadium that opens or an expansion team, it just adds so much revenue to the league," said Lynch.
"Between jersey patches and the Clippers' stadium, it was like the equivalent of bringing in three new teams to the league that generated revenue," he said.
There were 450 brands that entered NBA sponsorships for the first time this season. The most growth came from brands in the construction, alcohol and technology sectors, according to SponsorUnited.
Rakuten and JPMorgan Chase rank as the top-spending brands in the league, according to the report. Chase is the arena sponsor for the Golden State Warriors, while Rakuten has a patch on the team's jersey.
The sponsorship increase comes on the heels of the league's $77 billion media rights deal, in which games will be offered across Disney's platforms like ESPN, Comcast's NBC broadcast and Peacock, and Amazon's Prime Video beginning next season. The latest media rights deal shows a heavy emphasis on streaming and a broader expansion on broadcast TV.
Star power
Andre Iguodala, #9; Stephen Curry, #30; and Klay Thompson, #11, of the Golden State Warriors high-five one another during the game against the Boston Celtics at the Oakland Arena in Oakland, California, on March 8, 2017.
Noah Graham | Basketball Association | Getty Images
Individual star players have beckoned some of the biggest endorsement deals, which didn't contribute to the team sponsorship total, but often serve as a gateway for brands to eventually strike deals with teams, said Lynch.
"What we're seeing is that players are almost becoming teams themselves in the number of sponsorship deals they have," said Lynch.
Initially, star players and their massive social media followings were considered a threat to overall league and team sponsorship revenue. Instead, they've provided a boost, said Lynch.
"It's created a larger ecosystem for brands to enter into the NBA space, sort of dip their toe in the water," he said.
Athletes often ink endorsement deals that can last just a few months, as opposed to team sponsorships that are longer-term. The exception is generational players, like Steph Curry and LeBron James, who have the leverage for long-term deals.
This season the Philadelphia 76ers' Jared McCain inked 30 endorsement deals, the most by a player in a single season in NBA history, according to SponsorUnited.
Other top NBA athletes who led in endorsement deals include three New York Knicks players — Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson — who powered the team to the Eastern Conference Finals this season.
Golden State Warriors' Curry was also among the top-endorsed NBA players. Curry saw his business career trajectory change when he inked a deal with Under Armour in 2013, which was worth about $4 million per year, CNBC recently reported. In 2023 Curry extended the deal and received 8.8 million Under Armour shares, valued at $75 million at the time.
As a whole, the Warriors ranked alongside the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a handful of U.S. teams with the most lucrative sponsorships businesses.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
