The NBA season tips off tomorrow, and JPMorgan Chase is gearing up for a big season of its own.
The bank has been involved in professional basketball for years. But this year it’s starting the season with new partnerships with the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat, and a goal of becoming part of every moment of fans’ game-day experience from the moment they walk in the door to when they’re standing in the concession line.
The strategy isn’t entirely new. Chase already offers special access and experiences through several sports and entertainment partnerships. But its growing NBA presence gives the bank more opportunities to reach fans in cities nationwide. And with the new season about to begin, Chase is making some notable additions.
Chase wants a bigger role in the NBA experience
Chase’s new partnerships with the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat bring its NBA roster to five teams, joining the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and Atlanta Hawks.
The bank’s relationship with the Knicks is entering its 17th year, while its Golden State partnership includes the naming rights to Chase Center, where the Warriors play. Chase also works with the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries.
The Dallas partnership marks a first for Chase: The bank’s logo will appear on Mavericks jerseys throughout the season, making it the company’s first NBA jersey patch sponsorship.
But Chase isn’t just looking for more places to put its logo. The bank is also using its growing NBA presence to offer benefits that could make attending games a little more enjoyable for customers.
Kate Schoff, head of sports and entertainment marketing at JPMorgan Chase, told Fast Company that the bank sees sports sponsorships as an opportunity to connect with people in ways traditional advertising can’t.
“Look, you need both, right? We need traditional advertising, but the sponsorships and sort of the partnerships with NBA teams give us a chance to create a human connection that’s not on a screen,” she says.
That connection is becoming an increasingly important part of how Chase approaches its basketball partnerships.
A new perk for Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders
One of the biggest new benefits is coming to Dallas at American Airlines Center, home of the Mavericks.
“Our customers will see opportunities this year at the American Airlines Center in and around games,” Schoff said.
Those opportunities start on game day for Chase Sapphire Preferred customers at the door, where they can enter through a dedicated entrance. Anyone with a Chase credit or debit card will also be eligible for merchandise and concessions discounts at Mavericks games.
The partnership also includes perks like ticket offers, preferred seating opportunities, and other exclusive fan experiences. The bank also plans to sponsor select game nights with giveaways and other fan activities.
For a basketball fan who doesn’t get to take advantage of perks like Chase’s airport lounges, that alone could make a Preferred card worth carrying.
Why Chase wants to be part of game night
The NBA partnerships are about more than getting fans to pull out a Chase card when it’s time to pay. Chase wants fans to start thinking about the card before they even buy their tickets.
Schoff says that things like concession discounts and special seating “create human touch points that we get to deliver as a brand to our customers.”
Chase doesn’t just want fans to see its name on a sign. Just as airport lounges make travel a bit better, the brand wants fans to remember that having a Chase card improved their night out at the game.
That distinction matters when investing in sports sponsorships. While putting a logo on a jersey or arena wall can certainly help build brand recognition, offering something useful, such as special seating or discounts, gives customers a more direct reason to associate the bank with a positive experience.
“Really creating memorable moments, experiences, enhancing an experience, making it easier, reducing friction,” she says.
The hope is that those positive experiences help build stronger relationships with customers over time.
Why Dallas and Miami?
Chase’s latest NBA deals aren’t just about basketball; they’re also about where the bank wants to build stronger customer connections.
Dallas is an especially important market for JPMorgan Chase, which already has a substantial presence in North Texas. According to the company, it serves more than 2.9 million customers and 290,000 small businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It also has roughly 17,500 employees and nearly 200 branches in the region.
Partnering with the Mavericks gives Chase another way to reach people who already live and do business there.
“We want to make sure that we feel incredibly local in each of the communities where we do business, and sports teams really give us a way to connect on that local level, but at scale, given the size and scope of sort of NBA fandom,” Schoff said.
The same thinking applies to the bank’s other basketball partnerships.
Chase wants to connect with fans in individual markets, but it doesn’t necessarily want to offer the same experiences everywhere.
“So something like an entrance in Dallas might look different than an entrance in Miami that might look different than an entrance in New York, because we wanted to fit the vibe and the experience, and not to to force-feed a singular concept onto different fan bases,” Schoff said.
That flexibility gives Chase room to experiment with different perks and experiences based on what fans in each city actually want.
The strategy goes beyond credit card perks
While a lot of the partnership’s perks are customer-facing, Chase is also using its NBA relationships to support local businesses.
“It’s really become a core component of our sponsorship activation. We have an awesome program out in the Bay Area with the Golden State Valkyries, the Violet Book of Business, which has been traditionally focused on female entrepreneurs,” Schoff says.
In Dallas, the bank is working with the Mavericks on the Mavs Business Assist program, which offers workshops and other resources for entrepreneurs in North Texas.
The goal is to make partnerships more than just a marketing deal. For Chase, supporting local entrepreneurs can help strengthen its ties to a city while giving businesses access to opportunities they might not otherwise have.
What’s next for Chase and the NBA?
Chase isn’t planning any additional NBA partnerships just yet.
For now, the bank is focused on making the most of its existing relationships and figuring out which benefits it offers resonate with fans.
“We spend a lot of time listening and understanding how people feel about the types of experiences that we create in and around our partnerships, and therefore being able to evolve them as well, so that if something’s working really well, we know it is,” says Schoff.
For basketball fans, the immediate takeaway is that being a Chase customer could come with a few more benefits this NBA season, particularly if you’re attending a Mavericks game.
