Advertising Patches Will Reportedly Appear on MLB Jerseys Within 3 Years

Baseball purists, avert your eyes! The era of ad-free MLB jerseys may be coming to an end in the near future.

According to a report from Terry Lofton of Sports Business Journal, the MLB is planning on adding advertisement patches to jerseys within the next three years.

The changes would likely be made after the league's current collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of the 2021 season and a new one is put in place.

Though patches on jerseys have long been viewed as taboo in baseball, there's simply no denying that they'd be a great benefit to the sport as a new revenue stream. If baseball is to continue its economic success and achieve new heights going forward, any money gained from advertisement patches could be vital.

And though the perception is that they would take the soul out of the jerseys that have graced baseball for well over a century -- imagine an H&M logo splattered atop the Yankees' iconic pinstripes! -- there are surely tasteful ways to go about this, right?

Some fans think that allowing such patches on jerseys would open the door to a NASCAR-level plastering of wall-to-wall, crass advertising, but the reality is that they'd probably be no more noticeable than they are on NBA jerseys-- that is to say, they wouldn't so much of a distraction that the league won't agree to it, or that fans won't keep buying them up.

It's becoming increasingly likely that the implementation of jersey patches will come to pass, so enjoy the untainted threads while you still can.