After 125 Years The White Sox Get Corporate Makeover
One of the worst new trends in sports is advertisements making their way onto uniforms.
Classic uniforms across professional sports are being transformed into billboards, with jerseys, hats, and helmets being plastered with corporate advertisements. In 2023, Major League Baseball ventured into the new sponsorship frontier with 25 of its 30 teams rocking sponsorship patches during the 2024 season.
In 2024, the Chicago White Sox were among just five teams without a jersey patch sponsor, along with the Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, and Washington Nationals. That distinction will soon disappear. After 125 seasons of White Sox baseball, the 2025 season may be remembered as the last in which the team’s traditional black-and-white uniforms were unsullied by sponsorship.
The White Sox announced Wednesday that CME Group will become the franchise’s first jersey patch sponsor. CME signed a multi-year agreement that also designates the company as Chicago’s official global exchange partner. The company sponsored the Blackhawks’ bench seats from 2008 to 2019, a period that included the team’s three Stanley Cup titles.
Because of the White Sox’s long uniform history, vice president and chief revenue marketing officer Brooks Boyer told MLB.com the organization wanted a sponsor with a clear connection to the Windy City.
But the White Sox’s delay in adding a jersey patch sponsor was not entirely by choice. Boyer acknowledged that three consecutive 100-loss seasons limited some sponsorship opportunities but said the team also declined proposals from other companies.
After promoting several of the organization’s top prospects, the White Sox showed improvement in the second half of the 2025 season, winning 28 of their final 65 games. The signing of international star free agent Munetaka Murakami in December also increased the team’s appeal to potential sponsors.
The CME Group’s chairman and CEO, Terry Duffy, was born and raised on the Southwest Side of Chicago.
Now one of his favorite teams will sport his company’s logo on its home, road, alternate, and Nike City Connect uniforms as well as all Spring Training jerseys. But if you are sitting in the nosebleeds and are unable to see the patch, the White Sox ensured your trip to Rate Field won’t go without seeing a CME Group logo.
Under the terms of the deal, CME Group will also have fixed signage behind home plate and promotional opportunities throughout the season.
The White Sox and Duffey insist that the new patch, which will change colors depending on what uniform is being worn, “flows well.” But make no mistake, the patch, like the majority of sponsor patches across the league, is hard to miss and flat out ruins the aesthetic of the jerseys.
You can’t blame the White Sox for wanting to make a quick and easy buck, especially when the majority of the league has already done the same thing. But while the sponsorship patches are a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, it feels like a step in the wrong direction.
In the Premier League, the name across a player’s chest isn’t the club—it’s a sponsor. Major League Baseball hasn’t reached that level yet, but the addition of jersey patches makes it feel like all major sports are gradually moving in that direction.
Now that the MLB has dipped its toes into the jersey patch realm, there’s no turning back. In 2023, the league average for patch deals was roughly $8 million, with the Yankees and Blue Jays signing agreements worth more than $20 million each. With that kind of revenue generated, and player salaries continuing to escalte, there is little reason for owners to return to their traditional unblemished uniforms.
The exact terms of the White Sox deal were not disclosed, but MLB requires multiyear contracts for teams that add a patch. Brooks Boyer told MLB.com he hopes the partnership lasts beyond the initial agreement, meaning fans will likely be seeing the CME Group logo on White Sox uniforms for years to come.