San Diego Padres first MLB team to reach uniform ad deal, with Motorola

NEW YORK — There will be a new pitch on Major League Baseball fields next season.

The San Diego Padres became the first team to announce a deal for ads on their uniforms, saying Tuesday that patches with a Motorola logo will be worn on the right sleeves of their jerseys.

The March 10 memorandum of understanding for a new collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players' association gave the 30 teams the right to sell patch ads on uniforms and sticker ads on helmets. The sides adopted an Aug. 6, 2021, proposal by MLB to amend a section of the Official Baseball Rules which states: «No part of the uniform shall include patches or designs relating to commercial advertisement.»

MLB's proposal read: «Notwithstanding the foregoing or anything else in these rules, a club may license to third-party commercial sponsors the right to place their name, logos and/or marks on the uniform, provided that the patch or design is approved in advance by the Office of the Commissioner after consultation with the players' association.»

MLB decided to launch the uniform ads with the 2023 season and said it may start the helmet ads this postseason.

«Motorola's iconic logo on our jersey is a perfect alignment with our Padres brand,» Padres CEO Erik Greupner said in a statement Tuesday.

Baseball has had ads in the past for special events. For the opening series in Tokyo, the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs wore sleeve patches in 2000 for the insurance company AIU and helmet decals for the AM/PM convenience store chain, according to uni-watch.com. The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays had sleeve ads and helmet decals for the Japanese electronics company Ricoh in 2004; the Oakland Athletics had Pepsi ads on their sleeves and the Boston