{"id":2004849,"date":"2026-06-22T16:07:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2004849"},"modified":"2026-06-22T16:07:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:07:30","slug":"nba-players-union-launches-new-brand-aims-to-tap-direct-relationship-with-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2004849","title":{"rendered":"NBA players union launches new brand, aims to tap direct relationship with fans"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Basketball fans know the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) as a players union and occasional league office foe that represents the players in collective bargaining negotiations. But this week, the union launched a new brand it hopes will connect players directly with companies and fans.<\/p>\n

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PLYRS UNTD, which debuted publicly on Monday, is the union\u2019s effort to collectivize the name, image and likeness rights of its players. David Kelly, the NBPA\u2019s incoming executive director, said PLYRS UNTD will be the new banner that players use as they intend to move into apparel, experiences and more. Through PLYRS UNTD, they hope to be able to build a brand that can become recognizable enough to stand on its own and create a new revenue stream for NBA players.<\/p>\n

The NBPA\u2019s ambitions for PLYRS UNTD are high. Its players launched the new brand hoping that they can use their NIL rights in new ways. They are eying a lifestyle brand \u2014 with collections and apparel \u2014 that it can sell straight to fans.<\/p>\n

The union will also open a new training facility in Los Angeles in August and wants to use that new building \u2014 which used to serve as the LA Clippers practice center \u2014 not just as a space where players can work out but also as a content creation hub in ways they could not at their teams\u2019 facilities.<\/p>\n

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If it is successful, PLYRS UNTD would offer a new commercial pathway for the union, one it hadn\u2019t utilized before. PLYRS UNTD replaces Think450, which had been the union\u2019s prior commercial vehicle and controlled its group licensing rights. They sold those so that NBA players could appear in video games like NBA2k and on trading cards.<\/p>\n

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PLYRS UNTD, Kelly said, is a continuation of players\u2019 desire for more ownership of what they do and produce.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, everyone profited off player culture,\u201d Kyrie Irving said in a voiceover for a PLYRS UNTD ad the union rolled out<\/a>, \u201cexcept the players themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly said players are hoping that companies that want to work with NBA players can go directly to them instead of working with the league or its teams. While players receive roughly 51 percent of the money made off sponsorships, they would be able to keep all of the revenue made through PLYRS UNTD. The union entered 2026 with $460.5 million in assets, according to its Labor Department disclosures.<\/p>\n

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The launch of the brand, Kelly said, is indicative of what he hopes to accomplish when he takes over. Ownership is a key theme. That was highlighted in the 2023 collective bargaining agreement, which formalized the right for NBA players to take equity stakes in NBA teams \u2014 though that is still on hold as the union and league work out labor law concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they\u2019re basically leveraging is the power and the brand of the players,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cPick your sponsor \u2014 they really want a relationship with the players, and they think that the place to do that is through a team. That\u2019s great; a team can deliver you 12 to 15 guys in your market. We\u2026 can deliver you 450-plus guys not limited to market. And so, do we have the same sort of brand and engine of any of the 30 teams? No, but to the extent that some of what sponsors really want is a direct, authentic connection with the players \u2014 the players don\u2019t even lean into the teams in the same way that they will lean into a brand that they own. And so, that\u2019s where we think the opportunity comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think450, said Josh Goodstadt, the union\u2019s chief commercial officer, was always meant to be a behind-the-scenes company. It was constrained to working directly with other companies; the union hopes to use PLYRS UNTD to go directly to consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost fans\u2019 connection with the players is direct,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThey have their own audience. They have their own brands. They have their own direct connection to consumers. Thus far, our brand has only been known in the industry, right? It\u2019s only been something that we license to, you know, the NBA2Ks of the world, or the Take Twos of the world, and so, to create a brand that\u2019s known to consumers the same way that any team is known to consumers, the same way that NBA is known to consumers. So, when you think about the collection of NBA players, you should be thinking about the company that those players own and that we operate, which is now PLYRS UNTD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly said the union will continue to look for new ways to bring in more dollars, studying the ways in which NBA teams generate revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201c(NBPA president) Fred (VanVleet) will say, when we talk about getting a piece, we\u2019re talking about getting a piece of everything,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWhat better way to do that than to breathe new life in something that you already own?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basketball fans know the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) as a players union and occasional league office foe that represents the players in collective bargaining negotiations. But this week, the union launched a new brand it hopes will connect players directly with companies and fans. Advertisement PLYRS UNTD, which debuted publicly on Monday, is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2004849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2004849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2004849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2004849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2004849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}