NBA-PayPal won’t renew Suns sponsorship if team owner stays on after suspension

(Reuters) – PayPal Holdings won’t renew their jersey sponsorship with the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation’s Phoenix Suns if staff proprietor Robert Sarver stays with the membership after serving his suspension for office misconduct, the corporate mentioned on Friday.

Sarver was suspended by the NBA this week for one 12 months and fined $10 million after an unbiased investigation decided he engaged in hostile, racially insensitive and inequitable conduct towards feminine staff.

“We’ve reviewed the report of the NBA league’s unbiased investigation into Phoenix Suns proprietor Robert Sarver and have discovered his conduct unacceptable and in battle with our values,” PayPal Chief Govt Officer Dan Schulman mentioned in a press release.

“PayPal’s sponsorship with the Suns is ready to run out on the finish of the present season. In gentle of the findings of the NBA’s investigation, we won’t renew our sponsorship ought to Robert Sarver stay concerned with the Suns group, after serving his suspension.”

PayPal’s jersey sponsorship cope with the Suns, which was introduced in 2018 and consists of the Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation’s Phoenix Mercury, noticed the fee processor’s brand seem on the entrance of the staff’s uniform.

Sarver launched a press release after the punishment was handed down and mentioned he disagreed with a few of the particulars of the NBA report however needed to apologize for his phrases and actions that offended staff.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, enhancing by Ed Osmond)