Clippers, Bumble Couple Up

NBA jerseys have gone through two major changes recently: Nike became the league-wide provider, resulting in a wave of jersey re-designs, and the NBA has begun allowing teams to partner with outside brands using their jerseys as advertisement space.

The Clippers have now officially taken advantage of the latter opportunity to go along with their refreshed Nike uniforms: On Tuesday morning, the team announced a “multi-year global partnership” with Bumble, a social networking application that focuses on match-making. Bumble will reportedly pay $20 millions over three years, according to Bloomberg.

Here is what Clippers’ PR had to say about the decision:

The Bumble “Empowerment Badge” will be featured on team uniforms and serve as a powerful reminder from these two world-class companies of how innovation and excellence come from including different perspectives and backgrounds. The partnership will also extend to youth by expansion of the Clippers’ community initiatives to strengthen the skills, confidence and knowledge necessary for young women to achieve their full potential. — LA Clippers PR

The theme being outlined here — inclusive branding, gender parity — is born out of the Clippers’ cast of women leaders. There Clippers are, specifically, celebrating their heavily female leadership team, which is the largest in the league, according to the franchise. This crew is, of course, led by Gillian Zucker, President of Business Operations.

Bumble’s brand fits within this theme because of its “female first” rule, which requires the women of their app reach out to the men first (in heterosexual matches). Only once the woman has made the first move can males begin to introduce themselves.

What does this partnership actually look like in practice? Well, first would be the patch that will appear on the Clippers’ jerseys:

The Clippers are also encouraging Clippers Nation to join them in a social media campaign by downloading the below image and reposting with the name of “someone you’re stronger with.”

What else? If I had to guess, I would say that the Clippers will do something similar to what the Hawks did with their “Swipe Right Night” with Tinder.