The Knicks’ corporate sister Sphere will feature its logo on the basketball team’s jersey this season after owner James Dolan failed to find a sponsor who was willing to meet his reported $30 million asking price, sources close to the situation said.
The team will debut the Sphere patch on Wednesday night when it opens the NBA season at Madison Square Garden against the Boston Celtics.
The logo for Sphere, the mammoth $2.3 billion Las Vegas venue that opened to great fanfare last month with a concert by Irish rock band U2, will appear on all Knicks game jerseys both home and away as well as the team’s practice jerseys.
The patch may be replaced after the season begins if Dolan can find a company that is willing to pony up big dollars to have their logo prominently displayed on the front of the jersey. He is seeking $30 million, according to Sports Business Journal.
“This feels like a placeholder until they can get real money,” sources close to the Knicks said.
A spokesperson for MSG Sports declined to provide specifics on the financial details of the arrangement.
“The MSG family of companies has an unrivaled portfolio of premium assets, and we are committed to ensuring that the strength of our brands and unique global reach continue to benefit one another in powerful ways,” David Hopkinson, president & COO of MSG Sports, said in a statement.
The Knicks were one of four teams that didn’t have a corporate sponsorship patch on their jerseys last season after a five-year deal with tech-company Squarespace – for reportedly between $15 million and $16 million annually – expired in 2021.
A source said Dolan was upset the team did not have a sponsor last season and has been seeking a long-term lucrative deal.
Dolan reportedly wants a deal on par with the $30 million per year that brokerage firm Webull was paying the rival Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets-Webull arrangement exceeded the deal forged between the Golden State Warriors and Japan-based e-commerce giant Rakuten for $20 million per season — the most lucrative at the time it was signed before the 2017-2018 season.
MSG Sports is the parent company of the Knicks while Sphere is owned by Sphere Entertainment.
Dolan owns a controlling interest in both companies, which function as separate entities.
MSG Sports’ stock price was trading flat at around $170 a share on Tuesday.
Sphere Entertainment’s stock price rose by more than 3.6% on Tuesday.
Dolan is taking a page out of the playbook of another NBA owner, Miami Heat boss Micky Arison, by placing the Sphere logo on Knicks jerseys.
The Heat announced earlier this month that their jerseys would feature the logo of Carnival Cruise Lines — both of which are owned by Arison.
The NBA began allowing teams to feature the logos of corporate sponsors on their jerseys at the start of the 2017-2018 regular season.
