Fashion statement.

• Author: Schley, Stewart
• Position: SPORTS biz

COWARDS, I SAY! THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THE NBA are cowards! Took a perfectly good opportunity to slam-dunk an easy-money scheme and dropped it like a had bounce pass. Where, oh where, is exploitative capitalism when you need it?

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

You probably heard. Before the season began, the NBA nixed a contemplated plan to festoon the uniforms of its teams with sponsored logos affixed as patches on the front sides of jerseys. Thus, the league summarily denied fans who have paid good money for courtside seats the chance to see what a Gatorade logo looks like when it's slathered with armpit sweat.

But forget the aesthetics. There was money! Money to he made! Arid yet the league allowed it to vanish like an air ball. The NBA's estimate--and yes it was probably nonsense but an estimate still--suggested NBA teams collectively could have generated $100 million-plus per season by sewing logo-ized patches onto uniforms.

We lament what could have been. As did clever NBA fans who took to Twitter to make helpful suggestions to the league office about appropriate sponsorships for teams. Local fans, for example, urged the Nuggets to forge a win-win alliance with McDonald's Corp. so that the team could establish a bond with particle-chicken treats, thereby opening the window for the ultimate in sports-branding: the Denver McNuggets.

The NBA's shrinking-violet decision was a cold, calculated and heartless demonstration of restraint that represents an open slap to one of our greatest sports traditions, which is to make sure that the games and players do riot intrude unnecessarily on the ability of fans to be advertised to.

Thank goodness there are bolder leaders at work in sports like NASCAR, which long ago embraced the concept of dressing souped-up stock cars in colorful pajamas featuring corporate logos. Better still is the example set by Major League Soccer, which has boldly erased the line between teams and sponsors altogether by allowing a marquee franchise to be named after a product. The New York Red Bulls, owned by the company that makes the iconic energy beverage, represents the epitome of brave sports...