The New York Knicks are the toast of the town with their first trip to the NBA Finals since 1999. When the Knicks take the court for Game 3 at Madison Square Garden next week, one logo will flank the NBA Finals trophy and Knicks logo at center court: Chase.

Since 2010, JPMorgan Chase has been the marquee partner of MSG and its teams: the Knicks and NHL’s Rangers. It is not a name on the building, but the comprehensive partnership is akin to a naming rights deal, where agreements can top $20 million per year for arenas in the biggest markets.

The current Knicks squad is a far cry from recent teams that enjoyed only one playoff series win in 21 seasons before the current four-year run. But that did not deter from the brand value for Chase, which re-upped its deal with MSG and the Knicks in 2021.

“There’s sort of no better place for us to be able to have made this long-term investment and have the access and association that that we’ve been able to leverage,” Kate Schoff, head of sports and entertainment marketing at JPMorgan Chase, said in a video interview. “We obviously see that tremendously in this moment in time, but it really is a 365-day partnership where we do our best to find those moments in time that really resonate.”

Schoff said the $4.4 trillion-in-assets bank, the world’s largest outside of China, will have numerous activations around NYC during the Finals, including a hoops and scoops event with pop-a-shot and ice cream from one of Chase’s local small businesses, Salt & Straw. Chase’s Freedom Card will be a presenting sponsor and adorn fan enhancements, such as rally towels.

The banking giant is looking to create some access for Chase customers through ticket offers—the get-in price at MSG is more than $4,000 on the secondary market—as well as “surprise-and-delight moments” with tickets for some lucky fans. JPMorgan Chase will be hosting company watch parties and lighting up the crown of its 270 Park Ave. headquarters in blue and orange after Knicks wins.

Chase has experience with how to leverage its NBA team sponsorships during deep playoff runs. After Chase signed with the Knicks in 2010, it did its second NBA deal with the Golden State Warriors in 2016, which included naming rights on the new arena that opened in 2019. The agreement came after the team’s first title to start a five-year streak of NBA Finals appearances.

“All of these sponsorship investments are around supporting our business growth and our goals within markets, and the Bay Area is an incredibly important market to us, from both a consumer, small-business and institutional-relationship perspective,” Schoff said.

Chase doubled down on the Golden State organization when it secured the WNBA’s 13th franchise in 2023. The bank was a founding partner of the Valkyries, who already rank as the WNBA’s most valuable team at $850 million; the Warriors are the NBA’s most valuable, unseating the Knicks’ stranglehold on the spot in 2023, per Sportico’s rankings.

“The Golden State organization has built and continues to have this clear-cut vision of being best in class,” Schoff said. “Even when they’re not in the NBA Finals, what the Warriors’ organization represents aligns so well with our brand, and it shows in the programs we’ve built with them in the community, with small businesses, and for our customers.”

Chase’s MSG deal also includes the company’s other venues: Radio City Music Hall, Infosys Theater and Chicago Theatre. Other Chase sports sponsorships are with the U.S. Open, NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, League One Volleyball and the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field.

In April, JPMorgan Chase took its biggest sponsorship swing, signing deals with the IOC and LA28 to back the Olympics and Paralympics. The TOP agreement with the IOC was the first global banking sponsor in Olympic history, and the deal runs through the 2030 Games in the French Alps. In Los Angeles, the firm serves 5 million consumer banking clients and 589,000 small business clients.

“There was really strong alignment with our brand of what we believe as JPMorgan Chase,” Schoff said. She added that the deal includes financial literacy programs for Olympic athletes.

As for the Knicks, Schoff said they are not going to wait for Game 3 at The Garden for the club’s fans to be heard.  “We partnered with the Knicks to bring some folks to San Antonio for Game 1,” Schoff said. “So that we can make sure the blue and orange is represented loud and clear in San Antonio, no different than it was in Cleveland.”