Get ready to see a lot of Nintendo logos this summer, especially if you’re a fan of Major League Baseball. The Seattle Mariners announced Thursday that they’ve partnered with Nintendo as the team’s “first-ever official jersey sleeve partner.” That means that the Nintendo logo and the Nintendo Switch 2 logo will be featured on Mariners players’ sleeves, starting March 27.
Nintendo’s “racetrack” logo will appear on Mariners’ home jerseys, while the (much beefier) Switch 2 logo will appear on the team’s away jerseys. According to the Mariners, that will make the Seattle-based team the first in the MLB to feature different marks for home and away games.
“Nintendo and the Mariners have been inextricably linked since 1992,” Seattle Mariners president of business operations Kevin Martinez said in a statement. Martinez is referring to when Redmond, Wash.-based Nintendo of America purchased the Mariners in the early ’90s. (Nintendo sold its stake in the team in 2016.) “Now, each time the Mariners take the field, our jersey sleeves will help serve as a reminder of all that Nintendo of America has done for the Northwest community and the team.”
Logos of video game companies appearing on U.S.-based sports teams is incredibly rare. While gaming brands are commonplace in sports racing circles and in European football leagues, Seattle is something of an exception. Another local team, Seattle Sounders FC, featured an Xbox logo on its jerseys from 2009 to 2016.
Advertisements on MLB jerseys were all-but forbidden before before 2022. The league’s 2022-2027 collective bargaining agreement allows for a small shoulder patch with a corporate logo or image on one sleeve of players’ uniforms and batting helmets.
You can see the Seattle Mariners’ new Nintendo branding next week, when the team hosts the Athletics on opening day.
