Phillies Jersey Will Feature A Sponsor Starting Wednesday
Jersey sponsors have slowly started to become a thing around American sports. It started with the NBA. Sixers jerseys have had a patch advertising both Stubhub and more recently Crypto.com. Flyers have them as well. Expect to see similar patches on Phillies jerseys. The team officially acquired Independence Blue Cross as their first jersey sponsor and will begin wearing it this Wednesday according to the Sports Business Journal.
IBX has been a longstanding Phillies sponsor. You can also see their logos around the ballpark, including along the fence in right field. They also sponsor the Flyers and Union. Now the Phillies will sport a patch of the IBX logo on the sleeve of their jersey.
How Fans Feel About The Phillies Jersey Being Sponsored
Fans do not seem too thrilled. Many understandably dislike the intrusion of any advertising on the jersey. For my take, I think the patch of the Sixers jersey is mostly unintrusive. If it is only a patch, and that is what it stays as I am not too bothered by it.
The concern would become if it transitioned to what we see in soccer, where the jersey sponsor is the most prominent feature of the jersey. A patch is fine. But if the Phillies start having Bimbo or Thomas written in bold letters across the front of their jersey, to where it overpowers the Phillies’ own logo and name, then it becomes a problem.
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For now, most people likely won’t even notice it. I never notice the IBX on the Flyers jersey unless I look for it, nor do I notice the Crypto patch on the Sixers. The fact they are there is slightly annoying, but it has not yet become a distracting part of the jersey design.
It is also at least a Philly company being advertised. It’s not ideal, but it was also inevitable. 21 other teams already had Jersey patches, the Phillies were never going to stay out of that forever.
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Every Philly Athlete On ESPN's Top 100 Of The 21st Century List
78: Bernard Hopkins
Bernard Hopkins did not play for a Philly team, because boxing is not a team sport. But he is actually from Philly, which is even better. Hopkins is the best Boxer in Philly history. He went 55-8-2, 32 wins by KO, and was the oldest ever after he beat Jean Pascal in 2011. He would beat his own record a few years later when he reclaimed that title at 49 years old.
Hopkins is Philly royalty. We might be best known for the fictional boxer that is from Philly, but Bernard Hopkins is a real-life boxing icon we can call our own. His 28-year career saw him break many records, including 20 middle-weight title defenses. What made him extra special was his longevity and his dominance late into his 40s.
When talking about the greatest Philly athletes, there is no way you could leave Hopkins out. His place on ESPN’s list is well deserved.
LAS VEGAS – SEPTEMBER 18: Bernard Hopkins celebrates after winning the match against Oscar De La Hoya for the world middleweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 18, 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hopkins knocked out De La Hoya in the ninth round.
