The Yankees Are Sell Outs - Will Add Sponsor Patches To Iconic Jersey
This is how it ends. Nothing is real anymore. Pour one out for Yankees fans because it's all over.
Earlier today the Yankees announced that they had made a $20 million agreement with Starr Insurance company that will put a pizza box type logo on the left sleeve of both the Yankees home and away jerseys.
The team made the announcement on social media by having Yankees Captain Aaron Judge and Cy-Young winning pitcher Gerrit Cole pose in photos that look like they're being held captive. I mean look at their faces - Cole look like he's about to cry and Judge's eyes seem like he's in some sort of Stranger Things Upside Down world.
The deal is expected to be around $20 million per year through 2031.
The issue of the Yankees jersey has always been one of a mixture of lunacy and pride for Yankees fans. When you win 27 World Series Championships, your fan base becomes a little unhinged whenever there's any changes - especially when they haven't won a title since 2009 despite having a top 3 payroll every single year.
Yankees jerseys are also one of only two in the league that don't have names on the back - something the team has taken pride in because of their historic legacy. The no name jerseys go hand-in-hand with their longstanding "neatness" policy which doesn't allow players to have eitehr long hair or beards. The sell out move of adding a sponsor patch essentially looks like a double standard by the team.
YANKEES FANS ARE NOT PLEASED
As expected, the overwhelming majority of Yankees fans did not take the jerseys news lightly.
Hell, even I had to make a video about it showing my displeasure and calling the move part of an ongoing "Yankees identity crisis," that we are facing. It just doesn't make sense? It's $20 million to the New York Yankees. Their payroll is over $260 million this year and their Stadium is one of the top grossing earners year in and year out. To ruin a tradition source of pride and identity for the century-plus age team is just infuriating.
The negative comments go on and on and on as an already frustrated and on the edge fanbase is legitimately angry that the team would do such a thing.
The franchise clearly didn't take notes from their crosstown rivals the New York Mets similar fanbase reaction when they added sponsored logos to their jersey sleeves earlier this season. Mets fans were very vocal about their disapproval of the sponsorship - even prompting owner Steve Cohen to change the size and colors of the sponsor's logos.
Perhaps the Yankees Front Office should stop working in MS Paint and copy and pasting horrible sponsored designs on the uniform and focus instead on how they are going to get out of 4th place in the American League East.