In 2023, MLB made the decision to follow other major sporting leagues and allow sponsor patches on sleeves of jerseys. The rules are that you get one 4-by-4 inch patch on either the left or right sleeve of the jersey. Also, these sponsors cannot be alcohol, betting, or media related. In 2022, the idea of sponsors on batting helmets got shut down by the league office but could come back very soon. We have seen other Asian baseball leagues, and the NHL both have logos on their helmets. These sponsor assets are great ways to increase revenue for the teams.
Last season, the Giants decided to go with the local self-driving car service company called Cruise. Many fans expected this to be a doomed partnership from the start when Gabe Kapler and the Giants’ social media team made a very cringy video promoting this partnership. For Cruise, 2023 was not a good year for them as all 950 cars in their fleet were recalled due to major software issues that caused many fatalities and crashes. To make matters worse, they were ultimately banned from the state of California. Before the end of last year, Cruise went on to lay off 24% of its workforce, causing much uncertainty within the company. With the inability to pay staff, they offloaded their patch sponsorship to their parent company, General Motors, and went on to want Chevrolet to be the jersey patch.
Giants fans will remember the 2024 World Series Championship ceremony where Madison Bumgarner just won World Series MVP and got a brand new red Chevy truck from the very nervous Chevy executive Rikk Wilde. In the famous line, Wilde described the 2015 Chevy Colorado as being equipped with “technology and stuff.” Chevy got a large amount of publicity from this organic and funny mistake. They are hoping for more marketing magic with their new partnership.
The Giants approved this change and highlighted that Chevrolet has been a major sponsor of the MLB for many years. Cruise is keeping part of its original deal of adding 100 charging portals for electric cars. Chevrolet has been promoting their EV line, as California is banning the sale of new gas cars in the year 2035. It is unknown if Cruise will return as a sponsor in 2025 if they can fix their technology problems and get their ban lifted from the state.
