A buy now/pay later fintech company will be seen on the hardwood this season in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
On Monday, Sezzle, a fintech that allows customers to pay off purchases incrementally, was announced as the official jersey patch partner of the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association until the 2026-27 season. The Minneapolis-founded company will have space for arena advertising and a booth in the Target Center and its products will be promoted by merchants in the stadium, Paul Paradis, co-founder and president of Sezzle, said.
Financial institutions and service companies have long partnered with sports teams in the National Football League, National Hockey League, national and overseas soccer teams and the NBA. Some of the most prominent names in sports marketing include Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America and Citi, but buy now/pay later companies have primarily stuck to partnering with ticket merchants to increase their presence in the sporting world.
Aside from Paypal, which sponsors the Phoenix Suns, Sezzle is the only buy now/pay later company that sponsors jerseys in the NBA. The partnership also extends to the Minnesota's Women's National Basketball Association team, the Lynx. Paradis said the demographics of the NBA fan base align with Sezzle's own customer base and felt like a better fit than other marketing alternatives. "The NBA has always resonated with us … their fan base is very young, very diverse, urban-centered — that kind of fits with who our customer is," Paradis said. "We get opportunities for business-to-business entertainment and customer entertainment."
Bob Lynch, founder and CEO of sponsorship data provider SponsorUnited, said in a written statement that given the Timberwolves' recent success and Sezzle's proximity to the Target Center, this partnership is heavily advantageous for Sezzle.
"This is a trend where proximity really helps foster strong local synergy and creates a much better collaborative and community-focused initiative," Lynch said. "The BPNL space is crowded and hard to differentiate, so this gives them an exclusive environment."
Paradis said there were previous talks of a Minnesota Timberwolves partnership, but that the company dealt primarily with merchants and didn't have products for consumers at the time. The partnership became more viable once Sezzle began to launch more consumer-based products in recent years, such as its subscription tap-to-pay card that allows customers to pay later at businesses that accept touchless payment, Paradis said.
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The Timberwolves organization previously had its jerseys sponsored by Aura, a digital security company, since 2021. In a statement shared with American Banker, Ryan Tanke, chief operating officer of the Timberwolves and Lynx, said that Sezzle was a fitting partner for jersey sponsorship given both the organization's current trajectories.
"This is a unique opportunity to team up with a purpose-driven financial tech company in our backyard to thoughtfully broaden our fan and consumer bases through the love of Timberwolves and Lynx basketball," Tanke said in a written statement.
While there won't be any direct integrations of Sezzle technology in the Target Center, the tap-to-pay later technology will be available at concessions and merchandise shops in the facility. Paradis added that Sezzle may explore possible methods of direct integration in the future.
Paradis said Sezzle expects to see a positive return on investment with the heightened visibility and benefits the partnership will afford the fintech.
Lynch said that marketing through a sports team was an appropriate approach from Sezzle and may help to bolster the public perception of buy now/pay later technologies.
"Aligning with teams in general will normalize how people think of buy now/pay later," Lynch said. "It still has a bit of both unfamiliarity to a lot of people (especially beyond low income) but also has a stigma that can be erased with the validation of a brand like this aligning with the NBA."
