Spiderman ads to be placed on all Major League bases and on-deck circles in June

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Headache in a Suitcase

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If Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter turns a double play against the San Diego Padres in their mid-June matchup, he'll likely have to step on Spider-Man's web to do it.

As part of a marketing alliance between Major League Baseball Properties, Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, webbed logos of the upcoming film "Spider-Man 2" will appear on bases and on-deck circles in 15 stadiums of teams playing host to interleague games June 11-13.

The news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal in its Wednesday editions, comes a day after presidential candidate Ralph Nader called the placement of Ricoh logos on the uniform and helmets of players during the season-opening series between the Yankees and Devil Rays in Tokyo "a greedy new low."

Last weekend, 10 jockeys in the Kentucky Derby wore sponsors' patches, ranging from 20th Century Fox to the resort owned by the Miccosukee Tribe, which already has one of the largest signs in Major League Baseball -- it covers the majority of the left-field wall at Pro Player Stadium. The stadium, ironically, is named after a company that filed for bankruptcy in 1999.

National Hockey League teams have sold advertising on the dasherboards that ring the ice and have permitted teams to sell logos to appear on the ice itself. Though the NFL does not allow corporate advertising to appear on playing surfaces, Pepsi will pay the league $360 million over the next eight years for the rights to place Gatorade coolers, and cups and towels with the sports drink maker's logo, on sidelines.

And while it appears a deal that puts the "Spider-Man 2" ad promotion on the bases is yet another sign that everything is for sale, Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer, insists that fans should not expect to be bombarded with advertising when watching games.

"This is not a step toward wallpapering the ballpark," said DuPuy, noting that MLB has placed logos on bases in the past for All-Star and World Series games, though league officials have never specifically sold the space before.

DuPuy said Columbia Pictures originally wanted to put "Spider-Man 2" webbing on the netting behind home plate, but the request was turned down for fear it would distract players. Pitching rubbers and home plate will be adorned with "Spider-Man 2" branding before games, but will be replaced with standard white plates once the games start.

The fact that the "Spider-Man 2" logo will actually grace on-deck circles might cause more of a stir at the ballpark than a television vantage point. Virtual signage, advertising that is digitally inserted in the broadcast feed but does not appear at the stadium, has been commonplace -- especially in the area behind home plate -- for the past four seasons.

Foam fingers and masks with the "Spider-Man 2" logo will be given away at select ballparks. The movie is scheduled to open in theatres June 30.

"This is the perfect alliance between two quintessential national pastimes -- baseball and movie-going," Geoffrey Ammer, president of worldwide marketing for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, said in a statement.

Others weren't so sure.

"Some will say this reinforces the convergence of sports and entertainment, while others will suggest the only thing converging is bad taste," said David Carter, principal of The Sports Business Group, a sports marketing firm.

The teams will get a piece of the pie from the promotion. Large-market clubs like the Yankees and the Red Sox reportedly will receive more than $100,000 each through the promotion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"The fans are already becoming used to corporate logos being a part of their sporting events," said Jeff Chown, managing director of The Marketing Arm, an entertainment and sports marketing consultancy firm. "The purists will say that something like this is not good for the game, but something like this also helps promote the game."

In truth, the sports world is only mirroring the rest of society. Beverage companies often pay schools to allow installation of their vending machines. Just last month, video game publisher Activision and Nielsen, which measures television ratings, formed a partnership to monitor corporate advertising in video games.

The latest partnership could open the door to even more advertising opportunities, but DuPuy says fans should not be upset by the alliance.

"This does nothing to impact the play of the game," DuPuy said. "The base doesn't know that it has a corporate name on it, nor does the foot that hits the base."

Although there has been much ado about the potential for the league to sell advertising on uniforms, DuPuy says "we have nothing on the table."

Said Carter: "Imagine how much worse it could have been -- especially in San Francisco -- if baseball had partnered with a studio for the sequel to The Incredible Hulk."
 
bud selig and the rest of the owners are insanely stupid... why in the bluest of blue hells would they open up this pandora's box? they think this added revenue is going to help baseball??? are they nuts?? do they live in a cave???

this advertising on uniforms and on the field thing has caught on in europe...
01-manchester1_800.jpg

man u wears uniforms with friggin vodafone written all over them... and obviously they get paid quite the chunk of change, being a premiere club.

what do you think an american corporation will pay the yankees to put and advertisement on the vaunted pinstripes? a hell of a lot more than the brewers or the expos would get.

the ownership in baseball are so far gone that it's only a matter of time before they destroy their sport.
 
HEadache.....just a quick "clue"....it isn't JUST ManU...it is EVERY soccer team in EVERY country. EVERYWHERE.

Even the national teams (football/soccer) leading up to the World Cup have company logos on them. This has been going on for YEARS. Decades even. Look at NASCAR. Again. Nothing new. MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL are WAY behind this curve.
 
zoney! said:
HEadache.....just a quick "clue"....it isn't JUST ManU...it is EVERY soccer team in EVERY country. EVERYWHERE.

Even the national teams (football/soccer) leading up to the World Cup have company logos on them. This has been going on for YEARS. Decades even. Look at NASCAR. Again. Nothing new. MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL are WAY behind this curve.

i know it's on all the euro teams... but who gets more money for their adverts, Man U or some little nobody club? obviously it's Man U. who's the Man U of baseball? the yankees.

baseball owners already bitch and moan at every second about how bad the yankees are for baseball because they're on an unfair playing field... well if they start allowing adverts on uniforms that unfair advantage will just grow larger and larger.

the entire economic system of baseball is so F'd already, and the stupid ass owners just blame steinbrenner while they blindly make it worse for themselves, and more importantly, for the fans.

"tier ticketing" is the new rave in baseball. the "big" games cost more, the games against los expos are dirt cheap. the mets have this system. they have the san francisco giants in their silver tier, 'cause of bonds. bonds sits out last night's game at shea, and so the fans gets screwed... they paid a higher price to baisicly see the mets play a team that without bonds is no better than the tigers, expos or brewers. it's all a big joke, and it's the fans who take it in the pooper.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
"tier ticketing" is the new rave in baseball. the "big" games cost more, the games against los expos are dirt cheap. the mets have this system. they have the san francisco giants in their silver tier, 'cause of bonds. bonds sits out last night's game at shea, and so the fans gets screwed... they paid a higher price to baisicly see the mets play a team that without bonds is no better than the tigers, expos or brewers. it's all a big joke, and it's the fans who take it in the pooper.

NOW, I think this is an even BIGGER crime than the advertsing. Nice. Way to stick it to the fans. I would be pissed if I was paying extra to see Bonds and he did not pay. Baseball sucks. :down:
 
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