WNBA's Mercury Strikes Deal With The Devil

AZ Central: Since nobody really cares about the WNBA, this story is probably going to fly under the radar. WNBA's Phoenix Mercury struck a sponsorship deal with Lifelock that removes the words Phoenix and Mercury from their jerseys.

The partnership, which the identity-protection company calls a "seven-figure" deal, will be officially announced today in New York. It also lets the company put its name on the team's warm-up shirts and on the court at US Airways Center, where the Mercury opens play on Saturday.

The sponsorship deal is the first but likely not the last in the WNBA.

"It's by far the biggest deal with any sponsor, and the hope is some other dominoes will fall," said Rick Welts, chief executive of the Phoenix Suns, which owns the Mercury. "There are some other teams close to reaching agreements. It's a game-changer for the league."

The deal, in a league under the wings of the National Basketball Association, could lead the four major sports leagues - the NBA, the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League - to consider putting sponsors on their uniforms as some franchises struggle to sell tickets during a recession, said David Carter, professor of sports business at the University of Southern California.

"It's inevitable that over time most of the major sports leagues will wind up with jersey sponsors," said Carter, also a business consultant to professional teams. "What you will see over the next many years is an extension of what is seen in European soccer, and there has been no sensitivity in Major League Soccer."

European teams such as Manchester United, with AIG as its sponsor, and Chelsea, with Samsung, have benefited from lucrative deals that put the sponsors' names on the front of those teams' respective jerseys. In the U.S., in keeping with the professional soccer culture, 11 of the 15 MLS teams have made deals to put names of corporate sponsors on their jerseys. The NASCAR racing circuit, of course, is king when it comes to covering its cars with a myriad of sponsors.