NBA basketball team the Dallas Mavericks has signed a jersey sponsorship deal with online app and marketplace 5miles.
The three-year deal will result in the logo of 5miles, a Dallas-based company, featuring on the left chest area of the Mavericks’ jerseys.
The deal also includes multiple in-game activations, while Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes will serve as a 5miles brand ambassador. Barnes (pictured) will assist with all joint community initiatives focusing on youth education, underserved communities, supporting local police and more.
Among the community initiatives will be Entrepreneurial Expedition, a program that will seek to guide students through their personal journey to becoming an entrepreneur. The program launched last year and is set to expand to up to 30 schools in North Texas over the next three years.
Mavericks fans will also benefit from exclusive promotions on the 5miles app. In return, 5miles will receive in-game marketing activations and promotional signage throughout American Airlines Center.
5miles will also give fans a chance to purchase tickets through cryptocurrency. The Mavericks said they would become one of the first NBA teams to accept various forms of cryptocurrency for tickets and merchandise from next season.
5miles also becomes the official sponsor of the team’s Special Edition T-Shirt Tuesdays, which sees every fan given a free Mavericks t-shirt on Tuesday night games.
“The Mavs offer a great way to connect fans and users through our free, easy and convenient app, while strengthening 5miles’ brand awareness and market share in Dallas and beyond,” Dr. Lucas Lu, 5miles’ founder and chief executive, said.
“As tech entrepreneurs ourselves, this also is an opportunity to affiliate with the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban built his success in the tech industry, and his business-savvy and the journey that got him to where he is today is something we admire as it parallels our own.”
The deal comes with the Mavericks currently in the midst of negative publicity concerning allegations of a hostile work environment for women in its front office. The Sports Illustrated website last week reported on the issue, claiming inappropriate sexual conduct by former chief executive Terdema Ussery as well as raising questions about what Cuban knew and when.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks’ owner yesterday (Tuesday) vehemently denied a 2011 allegation of sexual assault after a weekly alternative newspaper in Oregon published details of a case that prosecutors didn’t pursue.
5miles’ chief financial officer Garwin Chan said the company was not deterred by the allegations. “Honestly, whatever information we’ve learned is through the media as well,” he said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper.
“I think some of these incidents that were mentioned were definitely before our time and probably before a lot of people’s times within the Mavericks organisation.
“What we are comfortable with is, based on our interaction and our experience working with Mark and his team, they’ve been nothing but a world-class organisation so far. So from everything that I understand, also assurances that the Mavericks organisation has given to us, they’re doing everything they can do to investigate exactly what happened and also put in place best practices. And we’re completely supportive of them.”
The NBA announced in April 2016 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. The Mavericks become the 21st team to agree such a deal.