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The days when an NBA sponsorship was mainly about putting a company logo on a jersey are becoming less common. The Brooklyn Nets’ deal with Alibaba Group offers a good example of where the business is heading.
Alibaba will become the Nets’ official technology and cloud partner under a new multi-year agreement. The company will also occupy the jersey patch during the Nets’ 60th anniversary season. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The partnership goes beyond branding. Alibaba’s cloud technology will be used inside Barclays Center for a real-time 360-degree replay system. Fans will also be able to create personalized collectible cards through an in-arena experience called Nets Figure Lab.
That approach is becoming more attractive to teams and sponsors. A technology company can buy visibility through a jersey patch while also integrating its products into the experience fans are paying to attend.
The Jersey Patch Is Becoming a Technology Platform
The Nets deal coincides with technology companies increasingly moving into sports sponsorship. The shift is particularly visible in the NBA. Teams in the league have spent years using jersey patches to onboard fresh categories of sponsors.
For many sponsors, the patch remains valuable because it provides exposure during televised games, social media content, and photographs. The equation is different for companies selling cloud infrastructure or artificial intelligence tools. Their products can be demonstrated through the partnership itself.
Alibaba has used that model in other sports. The company has been a Worldwide Olympic Partner since 2017 and has provided cloud technology for the Games. It has also worked with NBA China, UEFA, and other sports organizations on digital fan experiences.
At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Alibaba provided technology for a real-time 360-degree replay system. The company also supplied the technology behind the Olympic movement’s first official large language model.
The Nets partnership brings a similar concept to an NBA arena. Instead of simply associating the Alibaba name with Brooklyn, the company will have technology operating inside the building.
The replay system is the clearest example. Fans will be able to see game action from multiple angles through a system designed to deliver replays more quickly. Alibaba, therefore, gets a product demonstration while its brand is visible on the players’ uniforms.
The Nets are also using the partnership for their 60th anniversary season. Their Figure Lab will allow fans to create personalized collectible cards using Alibaba’s technology.
There is another connection between the two companies. Joe Tsai is the governor of the Nets and chairman of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. He is also chairman of Alibaba Group and has been involved with the company since its founding.
That relationship makes the partnership especially relevant to Tsai’s approach to sports and technology.
Teams and Tech Companies Are Looking for More Than Exposure
The Nets are not the only NBA team linking sponsorships with technology. The Golden State Warriors agreed to a jersey partnership with IREN, an Australian company that operates AI cloud infrastructure. Axios reported that IREN was paying more than $50 million per year for the Warriors’ jersey patch. The deal also includes the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries and the Santa Cruz Warriors.
The important detail is what IREN was buying. The company was not simply trying to become a household consumer brand. Its executives told Axios that the goal was to reach the Bay Area technology community and companies that could eventually become customers.
The Warriors have also added other technology companies to their sponsorship portfolio. Google Cloud and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise are among the organizations working with the franchise.
The NBA itself has moved in the same direction. Amazon Web Services became the league’s official cloud and cloud AI partner under a multi-year agreement announced in 2025. The partnership includes NBA Inside the Game, a platform designed to turn game data into information for broadcasts and digital products.
That shows why cloud companies can approach sports differently from traditional advertisers. The value is not limited to the number of times a logo appears on television. The technology can become part of the product that fans actually use. The Nets’ Alibaba deal follows that model at the team level. Alibaba gains visibility on the jersey patch, while the Nets get technology that can be incorporated into the arena experience.
There is a practical reason for teams to pursue these arrangements. Technology partnerships can help fund upgrades while giving arenas new features that can be marketed to fans and corporate customers.
The relationship can also develop over time. Alibaba and the Nets said they plan to test and scale additional technology and marketing applications throughout the season, both on game days and beyond them.
For sponsors, this can make sports a more effective marketing channel. A traditional sponsorship provides visibility for a defined period. A technology partnership can create something customers can actually interact with.
That distinction matters as NBA teams look for sponsors in industries that are spending heavily on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital services. Many of those companies sell complex products to other businesses. A sports partnership can give them a way to demonstrate those products without turning the agreement into a conventional advertising campaign.
The Nets’ agreement with Alibaba is still a jersey sponsorship. Fans will see the company’s logo on the team’s uniforms throughout the season. But that is only part of the arrangement. Alibaba will also provide technology for the arena, develop fan-facing experiences, and test additional applications with the team.
That is where NBA sponsorships are changing. Teams are giving companies more ways to connect their brands with the actual business of sports.
For the Nets, that means using technology to change what happens inside Barclays Center. For Alibaba, it means putting its cloud capabilities in front of an audience that can see the technology working. The jersey patch is still there. It simply is not the whole deal anymore.
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