The Sacramento Kings North American NBA basketball franchise has agreed a jersey sponsorship deal with almond brand Blue Diamond Growers.
From the 2017-18 season, Blue Diamond’s branding will feature on all of the Kings’ uniforms. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the Sacramento Business Journal newspaper reported that the deal would be worth about $5m (€4.5m) per year.
Although the jersey sponsorship aspect of the deal will not come into effect until next year, Blue Diamond will have a presence inside the Kings’ new Golden 1 Center home arena during the upcoming 2016-17 season.
Blue Diamond’s branding will feature on the court apron below the team benches at Golden 1 Center, while the company’s products will also be sold at the arena on game days.
The team becomes the second NBA outfit to commit to a jersey sponsorship deal for the 2017-18 season. In May, the Philadelphia 76ers agreed a deal with StubHub for the online ticket exchange’s branding to appear on the front left area of the team’s jerseys.
It followed the NBA’s announcement in April that teams would be permitted to agree jersey sponsorship deals as part of a three-year pilot programme spanning the 2017-18 to 2019-20 seasons.