Philadelphia 76ers to Become First Men's Team in Top 4 US Sports to Wear Advertising

— -- The Philadelphia 76ers will become the first men's team in the top four U.S. sports to sell advertising on its uniforms.

StubHub, an online marketplace owned by eBay that offers a platform for buyers and sellers of event tickets for sports, concerts, theater and other forms of live entertainment, will have its logo featured on the uniforms of the NBA franchise by the start of the 2017-18 season, when a three-year pilot program will begin.

"We are about being first, being different, being innovative and getting to market as quickly as we can," team CEO Scott O'Neil said. "We're thrilled that the NBA has decided to be an innovator among the major sports leagues in this country. We're happy that we will be the beneficiaries and we know that being first here will drive value for our partner."

Advertising on uniforms has been a lucrative business for European soccer teams, Canadian football teams and even Indian cricket teams that use athletes’ uniforms to generate additional revenue.

Naming rights to sports stadiums have been a fixture of U.S. life for close to a century now, with Wrigley Field in Chicago arguably being the first of its kind in 1926. The owner of the stadium, chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, benefited from additional publicity in naming the Cubs' ballpark after his brand.

Today, many stadiums sell naming rights to corporations, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the Lakers play, and the Mets' Citi Field in New York.

"This is strategic beachhead property for us," StubHub CEO Scott Cutler said. "We, as a company, have been very transaction oriented. We want to be more a part of the emotional experience fans have with their teams and we think a deal like this gets us closer."

The 76ers, who haven't won 20 games in each of their past three season, are the leading candidates to land the No. 1 pick in Tuesday's draft lottery.

Despite the team's widely publicized failures on the court in recent years, O'Neil, the team CEO, noted that they ranked third in the NBA in new ticket sales, potentially making them attractive to users of online marketplaces like StubHub and their competitors.

Editor’s note: The headline to this piece has been amended from the original to clarify that the 76ers are to become the first men’s team from a top four U.S. sport (basketball, baseball, American football and hockey) to have advertising on their jerseys.