WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 16: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrates after hitting the game winning shot against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena on November 16, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
The NBA Finals are set to have two fresh teams as the Indiana Pacers are making the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance since 2000, and the Oklahoma City Thunder are making their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2012.
The NBA didn’t use to have jersey patch sponsors. When the league moved to Nike as the NBA’s official uniform and apparel marker in 2017, jersey sponsorships came into play. Oftentimes, franchises choose a local tie-in for their jersey sponsor.
The Pacers have an eye-grabbing sponsorship patch on their jersey as the Pacers sponsor, Spokenote, includes a fully functional QR code that unlocks Pacers content for fans, including some that can’t be seen anywhere else.
The team announced the sponsorship in January 2024, calling the Pacers the first major professional sports franchise in the United States to sport a QR code-like jersey patch.
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Spokenote is an Indiana-based tech startup that allows users to pair videos with a unique code. Personal users have used the technology to enhance thank you notes, greeting cards, home deliveries and other personal interactions, while businesses use Spokenote to engage their stakeholders and customers.
The Pacers won the 2024 NBA Changemaker of the Year award for the partnership with Spokenote and creating the first scannable code patch on an NBA jersey.
The sponsor for the Thunder is Love’s Travel Stops, which is a truck-stop chain that was founded in Western Oklahoma. Their heart-shaped branding is adorned on each Thunder jersey. The Love’s heart logo is the only jersey sponsor the franchise has had, which is somewhat of a rarity across the NBA.
Love’s has partnered with the franchise long before the NBA allowed jersey sponsors, so the highway hospitality giant jumped at the opportunity to have their logo on the Thunder uniforms.
Love’s and the Thunder announced they extended their partnership in April 2023. The expanded partnership brought the logo patch beyond Thunder jerseys to include youth jerseys for the YMCA Thunder Basketball League, which meant YMCA athletes in Oklahoma got to wear the exact same jerseys as their favorite team.
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