May 4, 2004 Allan H. "Bud" Selig Commissioner Major League Baseball 245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor New York, NY 10167 Dear Mr. Selig: The great lengths of selfishness with which you are willing to go to desecrate baseball and alienate fans of the game should no longer surprise us. Still, your placement of advertisements on the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays uniforms for Major League Baseball’s opener on March 30 in Tokyo ambushed fans across the country and left them shaking their heads at this obscene embarrassment. We urge that you immediately put this issue to rest once and for all and eliminate any current or future possibility that Major League Baseball will accept advertisements on uniforms. You are suffocating Baseball’s fan base. It’s not enough for fans who want to enjoy a game to be forced to watch this pitch sponsored by that company or that home run sponsored by this corporation. In addition, they go to a stadium paid for by the fans and taxpayers, yet almost every available space is filled with ads and named after some multinational corporation with no ties to the community. Over the last several years, fans have been made to watch “virtual advertising” infiltrate television broadcasts, and T.V. commentators using the broadcast booth to hawk cell phones during the playoffs and World Series. This over-commercialization is sapping the fun out of being a fan of Major League Baseball. Now, you have sunk to a greedy new low. Bending Baseball to the demands of advertisers and accepting more than $10 million (according to Advertising Age) for a corporation to plaster ads on the uniforms for the two-game series in Tokyo. It’s supposedly a one-time deal, but conventional wisdom says otherwise -- that permanent advertising on uniforms isn’t a question of “if,” but “when.” MLB executive vice president for business Tim Brosnan, told reporters in Japan “Are there any definitive plans to put logos on uniforms? No. I don’t see that happening. But on the other side of the coin, never say never.” “We’re mindful of the fans, but I don’t think [advertising on uniforms] is unreasonable,” Brosnan later told the New York Post. “We’re always looking for new ways to advance our business.” That must sound reassuring to fans. The public tolerates a certain amount of commercialism, but why do you insist on trying the patience of loyal baseball fans across the country? We already have NASCAR, with drivers doubling as walking commercial billboards. Is that really what you want for the national pastime? Commissioner Selig, no one is trying to get in the way of your ability to make money, but you need to look beyond the immediate bottom line to make Major League Baseball sustainable. As primary caretaker, this means your job is to respect cities and fans, ensure the integrity of the game, and eliminate self-interested and destructive tendencies. Advertising on uniforms runs counter to each of these critical principles. If you allow such an explicit interference of baseball with another greedy vehicle for corporate marketing -- using player uniforms as product placement surfaces -- apathy is not what you should expect from fans and sportswriters. There will be considerable resentment, and fans will drift away. A matter of taste can sour more quickly than you think. Sincerely, Ralph Nader P.O. Box 19312 Washington, DC 20036 Shawn McCarthy League of Fans P.O. Box 19367 Washington, DC 20036 ### League of Fans is a sports reform project working to improve sports by increasing awareness of the sports industry's relationship to society, exposing irresponsible business practices, ensuring accountability to fans, and encouraging the industry to contribute to societal well-being. * Take Action! * Contact Bud Selig and urge him not to put ads on baseball uniforms. Allan H. “Bud” Selig Commissioner Major League Baseball 245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor New York, NY 10167 tel (212) 931-7800 fax (212) 949-8636 http://www.leagueoffans.org/uniformadvertisingletter.html http://www.leagueoffans.org