Just one day after the Philadelphia Phillies became the 22nd MLB team to sully their uniform sleeves with a corporate advertiser, this morning the Chicago Cubs have done the same.
The team announced a multiyear agreement with Motorola Mobility as the club’s “Official Jersey Patch Partner,” adding the logo to all home, road, alternate and City Connect jerseys for the regular season and postseason.
Of course, their Twitter account announced the patch via a hype video…
Hello Moto!
Introducing the Official Jersey Patch Partner of the Chicago Cubs, @MotorolaUS. pic.twitter.com/OFfRUseLKZ
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 1, 2024
I love how they try to make the sleeve patch seem less noxious by showing that Motorola has been a TV advertiser of the team for years. (“Look, we’ve always had Motorola as an advertiser, so this is natural!!!”)
Here’s how the ad will look on the sleeve of the home pins.
This means we’re now down to seven ad-free teams (a number likely to lower as the season progresses): the A’s, Mariners, Nationals, Rays, Rockies, Twins, and White Sox. (The other 22 teams who’ve sold out their uniforms to advertisers, aside from the Cubs, are the Padres, Red Sox, D-backs, Angels, Astros, Reds, Marlins, Mets, Cardinals, Tigers, Guardians, Yankees, Blue Jays, Brewers, Dodgers, Giants, Braves, Royals, Rangers, Orioles, Pirates and Phillies.)
The teams I thought wouldn’t cave to this — Cardinals, Cubs, Yankees and Red Sox — all have.
♂️
Nothing is sacred. Those “elite” clubs are just as beholden to the almighty dollar as the Royals, Brewers, and Reds. Only reason the A’s, Mariners, et al., don’t have ad patches is because no company has offered enough cash to make it happen.
And the Vegas tourism department has the opportunity to do the funniest thing with the A’s
Money talks. All of these teams have plastered ads all over everything inside their ballparks. What makes you think they’d turn down the money for the uniform ads?
Since the Padres also advertise Motorola, I think this is the first duplicate ad in the league.
This patch is fucking gigantic. Jesus… Pathetic
So is the patch for the Phillies. Feels like they’re bigger than they were originally. I could be wrong.
Looks roughly the same size as the Padres one, but theirs is also massive.
link
“I love how they try to make the sleeve patch seem less noxious by showing that Motorola has been a TV advertiser of the team for years. (“Look, we’ve always had Motorola as an advertiser, so this is natural!!!”)” – The best part (well… worst), is that these are fake retro ad reads lol. I know part of the partnership agreement is to make these videos, but wow are tone-deaf.
No coincidence that the only 7 left might be the 7 least marketable teams. It’s not that they don’t want to “sell-out”, it’s that no company wants to buy-in.
Yeah I’m not sure the White Sox could give away ad space in the midst of a 17-game losing streak and being 40 games back in the AL Central on August 1.
Yeah! The White Sox rock!
mariners owners know they are already in deep trouble with their fanbase, adding an ad to the jerseys won’t help
If Yankees fans moved past it, Mariners fans definitely will.
Fucking disgusting disgrace that I had false hope would never happen.
Seems like the patches are getting bigger and more obnoxious of late. Wondering if that’s why these have taken longer: “We’re not going to give you the money unless we know you can see the patch from the International Space Station.”
So good to see there are two Team Motorolas now. Hopefully Motorola will one day advertise on everybody’s jersey. Maybe they can replace the MLB logo.
I know you are being sarcastic, but in a sick way, that would actually be better because then the uniforms would be uniform.
In what world is uniformity across different teams a good thing?
To paraphrase The Incredibles: If everyone is sponsored by Motorola, then nobody is.
Good answer!
Not happy about it as a Cubs fan, but I knew it was coming at some point. Especially with them removing the National League patch from the blue alts. and moving the walking bear patch to either sleeve. Wonder if the patch will be reverse colors for the blue alt.?
It is… It shows the patch on their other 3 Uniforms in the video.
Not exactly subtle. Rob Manfred is the anti Christ.
The Cardinals patch is for a St. Louis financial services firm called Stifel. Seeing that patch ruin an iconic uniform every game inspires me to NEVER use Stifel’s services.
Noooo!!!
How much money does Motorola have to be throwing around for jersey ads? They now have the Padres, Cubs, Bulls, and Bucks (and formerly the Nets and Pacers).
As a Cubs fan it’s horrible. I was hoping the Cubs were better than this, but I was wrong
As a fam of a small market team (Rays) I’m really surprised they haven’t jumped on the bandwagon. I suspect with the club paying for half of their new stadium project and 100% of the overcost this will change soon enough. Fingers crossed though.
The Cubs should have gone with a stylized blue “M”, without the circle.
Would have worked with the road unis too.
But the patch sizes are nothing.
The biggest abomination is that f*****g swoosh on the chest.
Could have had it on the sleeve but no.
Actually it was Under Armour — who originally won the MLB contract — who demanded the wordmark be on the chest. Nike just swooped in and took the same deal when UA hit financial problems.
Now, that’s not to say swooshie wouldn’t have worked out a similar deal, but in this case ’twas UA that negotiated the mark on the chest.