The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed fintech company Sezzle to a multiyear deal as a jersey sponsor ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season. The Minneapolis-based bank replaces digital security provider Aura, which held the branding real estate from 2021 until the end of this past regular season.
In addition to the real estate on the player uniforms, Sezzle will have prominent in-arena signage, in-game promotions, sponsored community events and more. While not the patch sponsor for the Minnesota Lynx, Sezzle will have similar in-game sponsorships with the T’Wolves’ WNBA siblings.
Financial details were not disclosed; however, the team says that the patch agreement reflects a meaningful increase from the prior deal with Aura, placing it in the top half of the league among teams with patch partners. Jersey patch sponsorships in the NBA have typically run for three seasons, though a handful have gone for longer.
Timberwolves CEO Ethan Casson said that the timing was just right for a partnership with Sezzle as both brands are ascendent in their fields. “They really understand not just what’s happening here with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the historic year that we’ve just had,” Casson said in a phone interview. “But the power of the reach, and how that patch and brand plays in other markets throughout our league. It’s critically important for what’s able to be projected on national TV, (digital) content, etc.”
In the initial years of the leaguewide Jersey Patch Provider program that started in the 2017-18 season, Minnesota enlisted Fitbit and the wearables brand acted as the “Official Sleep Tracker” for the T’Wolves, Lynx and the Iowa Wolves, the NBA G League affiliate. Aura then took over as the sponsor in 2020. The program has proven to be a solid revenue driver for some teams, and it’s something that may set an example elsewhere in sports.
Sezzle operates a “Pay in 4” (Buy Now, Pay Later) platform that provides customers flexibility in how to pay for goods and services both in-store and online. The fintech company, which began trading on the Nasdaq exchange last August, is headquartered two blocks away from the Target Center where the Timberwolves and Lynx play.
Last season, Minnesota had 10 nationally broadcasted games, down from 16 in the previous campaign. Casson expects that the team will have more games with a coast-to-coast audience in 2024-25, considering that it made the Western Conference Finals last May and features one of the league’s brightest and most personable talents in Anthony Edwards.
One nationally televised game in which the Sezzle patch is certain to be noticed will be on Christmas Day when the Timberwolves visit the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch of those conference finals. It’ll be Minnesota’s third game on the holiday–all played as the road team–and its first since 2016. That level of exposure can only add more buzz for Sezzle, which is making inroads in the crowded BNPL space.
The deal was made as the franchise still sits in an ownership limbo of sorts. A group led by Marc Lore and former MLB superstar Alex Rodriguez has been at odds with Glen Taylor over the ownership transition that two sides agreed to in 2021. Most recently, media entrepreneur and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg joined the Lore/Rodriguez group ahead of court arbitration.
Minnesota’s recent success could bode well in the nation’s 15th largest media market, so long as the ownership situation resolves itself in quick order. The Timberwolves rank 28th of the 30 NBA teams on Sportico’s NBA franchise valuations list at $2.8 billion, and it drew $288 million in revenue in 2023.