[Drellich and Bannon] Japanese boxing ring festooned with Toronto Blue Jays logos broke MLB’s marketing rules

20 comments

  1. >On Monday in Tokyo, Blue Jays logos were splashed across the mat for a world-title boxing match. In one Kyodo News photo from the bout, bantamweight boxer Tensuhin Nasukawa knelt down with a red maple leaf — part of the Jays’ logo — and some of the team’s lettering situated over his right shoulder.

    >The only problem? The Blue Jays went rogue.

    >Major League Baseball teams are not supposed to place ads abroad without the league office’s blessing, which the Jays did not have. Japan is a scorching hot market for MLB, but commissioner Rob Manfred’s office controls international branding there and elsewhere. That’s in no small part because MLB wants to avoid a free-for-all between teams trying to grab a slice of a given market.

    >The Blue Jays said they were aware of the sponsorship in advance of the logo being used and that it was not a paid sponsorship. The league office was not involved, people briefed on the advertisement’s placement who were not authorized to speak publicly said

  3. MLB doesn’t let teams advertise abroad without permission to prevent teams from making individual efforts to corner a market.

    But they approve and partner with the Dodgers to run Dodgers-specific programs in Japan.

    Got it.

  4. Just want to thank the team responsible for this. Good job. Well done. Promotions for all! Let’s get Japan in love with us!!!

  6. >The Blue Jays went rogue.

    >The Blue Jays said they were aware of the sponsorship in advance of the logo being used and that it was not a paid sponsorship.

    DGAF Atkins might be my favourite Atkins

  7. Lowkey I think this was Ed Rogers doing his own thing and looped the FO in only so they can get their stories straight.

    Rogers is a global company, and while they don’t explicitly operate in Japan, they probably have partnerships with some telecos that let him back door a cheeky Jays advertisement in.

    I expect fines, but that’s probably about it  especially since it wasn’t a paid sponsorship and the team can easily argue they made an impression in the WS and anti-Ohtani baseball fans probably organized it on their own

  10. I know this is a dangerous road (and not one I’d like to go too far down), but the Houston Astros proved that you can get away with breaking MLB rules.

    Break a harmless rule… Who cares?

  12. They Jays are an international team, so they already have permission to run ads outside the states.

    Checkmate Manfred

  19. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the Dodgers who tipped off the league about this.

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