The NBA is the first pro sports league in the U.S. to OK corporate logos on uniforms. And the Cavs have followed through with what Cleveland.com reports is a $10-million-a-year deal with Goodyear.
Cleveland Indians Vice President Bob DiBiasio says he expects more teams will follow, and that the Cavs were fortunate to find a logo that fits the team’s character.
“The Goodyear logo is pretty cool, with the winged foot, just sitting up there on the left. So it’s not like SOHIO. … It just really looks cool and I think they lucked out on that look.”
DiBiasio was asked at the Akron Press Club today (Tuesday) about whether Major League Baseball is likely to follow the NBA’s lead. He said it has experimented – so far unsuccessfully – with creating space for logos. And he noted one type of logo appears on all sports uniforms – the name of the manufacturers’.
But what about Wahoo?
Meanwhile, Dibiasio is reiterating that Chief Wahoo is on his way out as the team’s logo.
DiBiasio -- who’s spent 39 years in baseball -- said the gradual move toward the “Block C” predated renewed attention from Native American and other critics of the grinning caricature.
“We had for a number of years transitioned away, again, saying we weren’t sure where that path was going to take us. All I can add to you now, is that with the commissioner being involved that that path is being accelerated.”
DiBiasio says there is no timeline, nor certainty of what, if any additional logo could be added to the Cleveland uniform.
