The Yankees announced a jersey patch partnership with Starr Insurance that will have the Starr name on Yankees uniforms beginning with games on July 21 and running through the 2031 season. The deal is worth at least $25 million per year and up to $200 million overall, according to someone familiar with the terms who was not authorized to speak publicly.
It is the richest deal jersey patch agreement in baseball, topping the $18 million a year Mass Mutual is paying the Red Sox over the next decade. The top jersey logo deal in U.S. sports is the Golden State Warriors’ agreement with Rakuten, worth an estimated $45 million annually.
Starr has been a sponsor of the Yankees for five years and will continue as the team’s official commercial insurance company partner. It will now also receive signage on the Yankee Stadium outfield wall in front of both the home and visiting team bullpens.
The Yankees were offered richer deals by brands outside the U.S., as well as ones with shorter track records, but the team preferred the stability of Starr, which has a presence on six continents and whose roots trace back more than a century. It is based in New York City, and its CEO, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, who formerly ran AIG, was a long-time friend of late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
“Starr and the Yankees, one of the world’s most widely recognized professional sports teams, share important values—including a commitment not just to teamwork and winning, but to excellence in how we do business and serve a broad range of constituencies,” Greenberg said in a release announcing the news.
Major League Baseball clubs and players approved the addition of sponsor patches to uniforms beginning with the 2023 season. Under the agreement, the jersey patches are a maximum of 4-by-4 inches and are positioned on either sleeve of the uniform. The sponsor and its logo have to be approved by the league and players for every team, with alcohol, betting and media brands forbidden from consideration. The Yankees are the 13th team to sign a patch partner.
