Pornhub is trying to crack into sports team sponsorship in a big way. It was recently announced that they going to be accepting pitches from Serie A soccer teams in Italy, one of which would be the lucky recipient of an official Pornhub sponsorship for the 2016-2017 season. Said Pornhub Vice President Corey Price:
"We tried to think of a meaningful way to involve our large Italian community, and this seems to be the most suitable way. We encourage all eligible teams to send their applications, and we look forward to working with the winner."
Of course, a professional league Pornhub sponsorship would only fly in sex-positive Europe. Here in America, we condemn porn as being for filthy deviants and prefer instead to promote rape culture among our sports leagues.
But just because this is the biggest swing, and in the most official capacity, that Pornhub has taken at a major sports team sponsorship doesn't make it their first time at bat. (Yes, that sports metaphor took a painstaking amount of time to craft.) Here are two other teams they've (somewhat) successfully sponsored:
1. University of Kent's Rutherford Raiders
In 2014, the University of Kent soccer team was struggling to find a sponsor and found a helping hand with Pornhub when they splashed its logo on their jerseys. The University got extremely upset and shut it down, but the team pointed out the school's hypocrisy, noting that its cricket team had an alcohol brand as a sponsor.
"We are struggling to see why they are having a problem," one of the players told The Independent . "The university cricket team are sponsored by Kingfisher, which is also an age-restricted product."
2. A Kildare Basketball Team
In 2013, a bunch of guys taking place in a three-on-three basketball tournament in Kildare, Ireland found themselves in need of a sponsor. One (semi-drunk) phone call to Pornhub later, they learned that the porn site would be "delighted" to oblige them. They sent in a design and got their Pornhub jerseys back in time for the tournament!
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Images: Pornhub Apparel; Giphy (2)