The big news that we’ve been hearing about over the past few days has been that UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will be the first UFC fighter in history to come to the cage sporting the logos of Nike and Gatorade. He will be a veritable Michael Jordan of the UFC world, with two big-name sponsorships that all athletes dream of one day having. The thing is, that isn’t really the case. Isn’t it weird how this stuff works out? Jon Jones isn’t really sponsored by Gatorade, at least not in the sense of the word “sponsored” as in they pay him money to sport the logo for them.
ESPN Sports Business reporter Darren Rovell revealed this shocker on Twitter today, pointing out that the Jones/Gatorade deal is more like they sent him some free stuff and that they won’t be upset with him if he sports the Gatorade logo with him to the ring. It’s kind of like if you walk around wearing your favorite band’s shirt, they aren’t going to be upset with you for giving them free promotion, why would they be?
{source}
<div align=”center”>
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>Despite reports that Jon Jones has signed a Gatorade deal, Gatorade official says there is no contract, no $ changing hands.</p>— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) <a href=”https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/statuses/381112834513334273″>September 20, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>Gatorade official says company has sent product to Jon Jones, will allow him to wear logo, but not paying him $</p>— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) <a href=”https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/statuses/381114396388229121″>September 20, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
</div>
{/source}
I mean, I’m not the only one that thinks that this is really awkward, right?
