After looking for a sponsor since 2014, NBA’s Development League will cement its partnership with sports drink maker Gatorade by renaming the “D-League” to the “G-League,” with G standing for Gatorade.
It will be the first time a U.S. professional sports league is named after a sponsor, but it isn’t too surprising considering Gatorade and the NBA have done business together since 1986, USA Today noted.
The new name will bring balls and jerseys with the Gatorade logo for all 25 league teams, but it also will bring the expertise of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, which looks to maximize athlete performance with research, education, and nutrition science. The institute has facilities in Bradenton, Florida, and Barrington, Illinois, and will partner with the NBA league to improve nutrition and training for its players, USA Today reported.
Many athletes including Dwayne Wade and Cam Newton have used the institute previously to help them evaluate exactly what their bodies need to compete at their best.
“This isn’t about slapping a name on a league,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said, ESPN reported. “This is much, much deeper than that.”
The move is not a first step to an overall name change for the NBA, Tatum assured, according to ESPN.
Other leagues, including the WNBA, Major League Soccer, and soccer leagues in other countries, are already putting sponsorships on their jerseys, but the NBA only approved corporate sponsorship patches on jerseys starting with the 2017-2018 season.
The Utah Jazz will be the first to incorporate sponsor patches, with the money to benefit cancer research, ESPN reported.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.