The Downbeat - 13 February 2017 - #2034 - The Don’t Forget To Buy A Valentine’s Present Edition

It’s been coming for a while, but it’s finally here. Ads on jerseys. The Jazz aren’t turning down free money either and will announce their “patch” partner today,

Honestly, as long as it matches the uniform, and doesn’t clash like the ad for the Nets, it’s fine. Our eyes are bombarded by ads everywhere else in the arena, why would jerseys be any different? They’ve had an ad (yes, an ad) for adidas for years. The Stance socks deal is a big ad. The players are the product fans pay to see and the fans are the product that sponsors pay so that they’re seen.

So who’s the likely sponsor? Hopefully it’s someone local with national appeal. My guess is based on on the second tweet from the Jazz account that states the patch is “innovative.”

The Wasatch Front is becoming a major tech hub. There’s no shortage of national players that have a presence in Utah. My money though is on Adobe.

Just like the Nets’ announcement with Infor, Adobe (or whoever it turns out to be) won’t be just slapping an ad on the jersey. They will become a true partner with the Jazz, providing additional services and integration with not only the Jazz, but the Larry H. Miller family of companies. One of Adobe’s biggest market pushes right that fits in with what the Jazz and other LHM companies are trying to do right now is in analytics and marketing.

It would be a great partnership and honestly, the ad would look nice on the jersey so far as ads on jerseys go.

Anyone else make sense?

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Just Quin Superman posing.

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

That is all.

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Two games this week at home and then we don’t see the Jazz at the Viv until March 1st.

The Clippers and the Blazers heading into the break could end up being a huge boost going into the second half of the season or put fans into a full-fledged melt down.

The Jazz obviously want to put as much space between themselves and the Clippers while they’re waiting for Chris Paul to return. That first-round home court advantage is important if they want to advance to the second round.

Neither game will be easy. The Jazz are already 0-1 against both this season. I don’t need to remind everyone of the game against the Clippers B squad to end the season last year. The Jazz have also struggled against the recent iteration of the Blazers.

Gordon Hayward knows these are big games, stating on his blog,

The greatest obstacle for any team going into the All-Star break is getting through the dark days of January and into February.

So how do the Jazz go into the break?

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Here’s a reason I’m fine with the additional revenue from jersey ads. From Kevin Pelton’s mailbag,

Utah is looking at a possible tax bill as soon as next season if Gordon Hayward gets maxed out and George Hill signs a deal starting in the $20 million range, which is plausible, and moving Favors could be one way to deal with that. So I think the Jazz have to be planning for scenarios where they explore a trade this summer, but I can't imagine that's Plan A at this point. There are too many questions about Boris Diaw's age and Trey Lyles' ability to step in as a starter.

That’s not even taking into account the max that Joe Ingles is sure to command. Okay, not max, but he’s going to draw a lot of attention from teams this summer. I would assume that his preference is to stay with the team but LA is a bit closer and probably has better flight options to Australia for his wife and twins (just saying).

The Jazz were last taxpayers in 2011 and lost a lot of money. In order to keep the core together, it’s looking like they’re going to have to pay for it. If the ads and other revenue help keep them together, then I want more ads on the jerseys. Let’s put a big one front and center, right under the numbers.

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Monday open poll...

Give me your wild prediction on what player isn’t with the team next season.