Look closely at the new jersey the Minnesota contingent in the WNBA will be wearing this summer. What is this team's name?
It is still the Lynx, of course, but you'll have to look closely if you want visual evidence on the uniform.
In the wake of the team's new sponsorship deal with the Mayo Clinic, the jersey will have the clinic's name positioned large above the number on the front. A small Lynx logo appears near the shoulder.
Players Maya Moore and Monica Wright showed off the new gear Monday in the Minneapolis skyway. The new jerseys are part of a partnership with the clinic that includes marquee placement on the team's home and away jerseys and makes the clinic the exclusive presenting partner for the 2014 season. It is an extension of an agreement the Mayo Clinic made to be a part of the new training facility for both the Lynx and the Timberwolves that will be constructed across the street from Target Center in an area once known as Block E but now known as Mayo Clinic Square. That facility will include a sports medicine center run by the Mayo Clinic, and the clinic also will become the team's medical provider for the 2015 season.
"The jersey marquee is one element in a wide-ranging partnership with Mayo Clinic," Lynx executive vice president Roger Griffith said. "In addition to winning two championships in the last three seasons, we continue to look to the future for ways to improve our business both on and off the court. Our relationship with Mayo Clinic accomplishes that."
The deal makes the Lynx one of six teams in the 12-team league to have a marquee jersey sponsor — and a leader in this regard. "This is the biggest partnership of this sort that we have ever had," said WNBA president Laurel Ritchie, who was in Minneapolis for the official announcement.
