With the NBA allowing teams to place advertisements on their jerseys it may be a matter of time before MLB will open the doors for it. Especially now commissioner Rob Manfred does not rule out ads on jerseys.
In April 2016, the NBA announced that it will allow teams to sell 2.5-inch-by-2.5-inch space to companies. For now, this is a test period of three years, starting in the season 2017-2018, according to ESPN.
Advertising on MLB jerseys is a no-no for the baseball purists among us. But in an interview with Bloomberg, Manfred stated the following:
“We will have a logo on the front of the jerseys as soon as Under Armour will take over the production of jerseys. This is a very big change for us and we have to digest that change first before we are going to look any further.But you have to stay open minded. Our game 
evolves like all games. But you have to be careful with the changes you make not to offend the traditionalists, who are the core audience, but we will remain open minded on topics like 
that.”
In Japan, advertising is a common sight. Not as big as you see on soccer jerseys, but small spaces on the sleeve or other parts of the jersey, or on parts of the batting helmet. The Softbank Hawks, for example, even have advertising 
space on their cap as they sport the logo and name of Huawei. If this would be introduced to MLB jerseys as well, it wouldn’t be very disturbing.
Don’t expect MLB to allow advertising on jerseys in the near future. But now the NBA does allow it, more US sports federations likely will follow. It will be a matter of time before you see an ad at the bottom of a sleeve 
like you can see on the jersey of the Hanshin Tigers from Japan (above).
As long as it doesn’t get as bad as the uniform shown on the left, it is not the end of the world. 🙂
If you are interested in the interview with Rob Manfred,
you can find the link here.
Dutch Baseball Hangout 
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