Business of Sports June 11, 2009, 12:47PM EST

The NBA's Growing Global Appeal

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6. Jersey Girls (and Guys) Part II
Add another WNBA team to the list of those with a corporate jersey sponsor. On the eve of a new WNBA season, the Los Angeles Sparks agreed to a multiyear deal with Farmers Insurance to put the company's logo on their jersey and display it around Staples Center. Terms were not disclosed.

In a parallel move, various NFL teams, including the Houston Texans and Green Bay Packers, are trying to sell sponsorship patches on their practice jerseys, a move allowed under a new league rule passed this offseason. And at least two MLB teams are rumored to be considering the same.

Understandably, the Sparks received far less publicity for their deal than their Phoenix counterparts, who ventured into previously uncharted territory with their own jersey deal earlier in the week. Few things have the ability to spread a message like a corporate logo on a top athlete can. Whether it's the Sparks or the Packers, a sponsorship deal will instantly enhance brand awareness. Now the only thing left for the Sparks to do is console recent Candace Parker jersey buyers, who shelled out $50 for the league's best-selling, and now most outdated, jersey in the league.

7. Soccer's Biggest Shirt Sponsorship Signed
Manchester United has just signed a new four-year shirt sponsorship deal with Chicago-based insurance firm Aon Corp. (AOC). The deal is worth £80 million, making it the biggest such deal in football history. United will begin wearing the shirts at the start of the 2010-2011 season.

United had been searching for a replacement since the team's current sponsor, American insurance company AIG (AIG), announced it would not renew its £14 million-per-year deal when it expires at the end of the 2009-2010 season. United had also talked with Indian financial-services company Sahara and telecommunications firm Saudi Telecom.

Aon employs 37,000 staff around the world, in 500 offices in 120 countries, and acts as a consultant on pension, employment, and risk management issues in addition to selling insurance. Its 2008 revenues reached $7.6 billion. Although Aon has been less affected by the down economy than many other global financial-service providers, the company defended the deal during a period in which it has cut pension benefits for 5,400 British staff.

8. Suite Deal: The Cost of Suites at New York's Newest Stadiums
The New York Red Bulls recently announced luxury box prices for their new soccer stadium, slated to open for the 2010 MLS season. Relative to the four other venues recently built or under construction in the New York metropolitan area, Red Bull Arena is the best deal. Here are the annual prices for the most expensive suites at New York's five new stadiums:

1. New Meadowlands Stadium, $1,000,000
2. Yankee Stadium, $800,000
3. Barclays Center, $540,000
4. Citi Field, $500,000
5. Red Bull Arena, $75,000

9. If It's MLB Draft Day, It Must be…Moneyball, the Movie?
As the country's top amateur baseball players prepare to meet their new employers following the June 9 MLB draft, it's appropriate that Brad Pitt and director Steven Soderbergh are busy preparing for the first day of shooting Moneyball, the movie.

The $57 million cinematic version of Michael Lewis' best-selling book, about how Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane, through sabermetrics, upended the conventional wisdom of how baseball evaluates athletic talent, was green-lighted last year. Sony (SNE) took on the project after virtually every other studio in town had turned it down. Even though it's certainly not a standard Hollywood production—as Los Angeles Times film critic Patrick Goldstein puts it, "the saga has no love story, no real villains, and lots of wonky baseball chatter"—the intriguing storyline and the persona of the rebellious Beane attracted the attention of Soderbergh and Pitt, respectively.

From Goldstein's perspective, the final script stays "amazingly" true to the book—another anomaly in Hollywood. Soderbergh is so adamant about sticking to the tone and texture of the book, Goldstein says, that he has recruited many of the actual characters involved with the 2002-era events—including Oakland A's manager Art Howe, catcher-turned-first baseman Scott Hatteberg, and outfielder David Justice—to play themselves.

Rick Horrow is a leading expert in the business of sports. As CEO of Horrow Sports Ventures, he has been the architect of 103 deals worth more than $13 billion in sports and other urban infrastructure projects. He is also the sports business analyst for CNN, Fox Sports, and the Fox Business Channel.