If you’ve been watching the Major League Baseball postseason, you’ve probably thought that most of us have: What is that Strauss decal on the players’ helmets?
MLB has historically also been notorious for turnovers—that is, until a few years ago under Commissioner Rob Manfred. During Manfred’s tenure, the league has implemented rule changes to speed up the game and make it more exciting and has relied on social media and “highlighting” culture to engage younger audiences, all with significant results, including setting attendance, viewership, engagement, and revenue records. in 2023 and moving forward with several key metrics for 2024.
The Strauss logo follows in that line of major changes.
Strauss is a German workwear brand that became available in the US late last year. MLB announced a partnership in September with the brand to advertise last season’s gear through 2027. But unless you read MLB’s press releases at your leisure, you probably didn’t see it until the logo was released during this year’s offseason.
Not even two weeks after the start of the campaign, it is not known how much Strauss paid for the funding, but he is already reaping the benefits.
Strauss, to win
Strauss’ decal debuted during the most watched MLB Wild Card cycle, with ratings up 25% over last year’s numbers. This generated nearly $800,000 in media value for the live broadcast of the game alone, according to media intelligence firm Hive, according to Sportico. Strauss decals were also added MLB The Show 24 last week, adding to brand presence, while social media exposure added another $214,000 in media value to the pot.
And that’s just the beginning. Depending on how many games are played this postseason, the Hive Strauss projects could earn a total of $17 million in media value across all TV and digital platforms by the end of the playoffs.
With four teams from MLB’s top five news markets represented in the postseason—plus New York and Los Angeles still alive—and stars like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge still active, the draw couldn’t have worked better for Strauss.
A (brief) history of MLB gear sponsorship
In 2023, the San Diego Padres became the first team in MLB’s nearly 120-year history to sell space on their uniforms to sponsors when they added a Motorola patch to their sleeve. This comes after a recent collective bargaining agreement, which opened the door to jersey sponsorships in an effort to increase prices and profits across the league.
Since then, 23 of MLB’s 30 teams have signed uniform agreements. The league average for patches is around $7 million to $8 million per year, with the Boston Red Sox at $17 million and the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays receiving the largest deals in the mid- to mid-$20 million range. according to The Athletic. Sponsors range from Motorola to MassMutual, Kroger, ADT, QuikTrip, and more.
Starting in 2021, MLB itself entered the sponsored game, becoming the first major sports league to partner with a cryptocurrency exchange company. This agreement added sponsored patches to the sleeves of the referee’s uniform.
One problem. . . the sponsor was FTX, which was later revealed as a crypto Ponzi scheme organized by founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The league released the patches ahead of the 2023 season. This is another reason why MLB has eased into this new era of gear sponsorship.
Now, it seems to be picking up steam.
What’s next for MLB sponsorships
The Strauss decal won’t end once the postseason ends. It will remain in the hats during the MLB offseason until 2027 as part of its four-year partnership. It will also feature the helmets of all 120 Minor League Baseball clubs for every regular season starting in 2025, as well as MLB helmets for all games played in Europe for the next three years.
It’s the next step for MLB in acquiring other major American sports leagues, which recently acquired their European counterparts who have been bringing together jersey sponsors for decades.
After years of hesitation, the NBA led the charge in 2017-18, followed by the NHL in 2022-23 and MLB in 2023-24. The moves are already paying dividends, as team sponsorships grew 7% year-over-year in the NBA and 10% in the NHL this past season, according to data from SponsorUnited, via Modern Retail.
As the American leagues continue to embrace this new revenue stream, expect to see creative sponsorship combinations that balance culture and financial opportunity. It’s unlikely that MLB—or any major American sports league—will go the route of international soccer and replace team names on the hem of jerseys with sponsors, or release NASCAR-like uniforms full of brands. The truth will probably come somewhere in between. Either way, it’s a trend that won’t go away anytime soon.
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