NBA: Gatorade (sports drink) acquires naming rights to the D-League (minor league) from 2017-18

Gatorade, the sports drink brand in the US conglomerate PepsiCo, has acquired the naming rights to the NBA Development League (NBA minor league for player development) from the 2017-18 season, on 14/02/2017. Neither the duration nor the amount of the deal were disclosed. PepsiCo is an official partner of the NBA for the 2015-2020 period, and use its carbonated soft drinks brand Mountain Dew as the bridgehead of this partnership.

This is the first naming rights agreement for a North American professional sports league. The minor league of the NBA, commonly called the D-League, will now be called the NBA Gatorade League, or abbreviated to the "NBA G-League", from 2017-18. The new logo of the development league, which bears the letter "G" from the logo of the Gatorade brand, will appear on the official games balls, on the jerseys of the 25 franchises, and on the floors of the arenas of the G-League, as well as on advertising boards and on all the digital platforms in the league.

The sports drink brand will provide Gatorade to all G-League franchises, and some players will work with…