Phoenix Suns Sign Multi-Year Jersey Deal With Paze, Replacing PayPal
Early Warning Services will place its Paze brand on Suns jerseys in a multi-year deal, succeeding PayPal as the team's official jersey partner.
The Phoenix Suns have secured a new jersey patch sponsorship with Early Warning Services, LLC, the Arizona-based financial technology company behind both the Zelle and Paze payment platforms, the organizations announced. The multi-year agreement replaces PayPal, which had previously held the team's jersey partnership rights.
The deal carries notable regional significance, linking the NBA franchise with a company headquartered in the same state. Early Warning Services developed Zelle, the peer-to-peer payment network that has grown into a widely used tool for everyday money transfers across the United States, and more recently launched Paze, a digital wallet product aimed at online checkout.
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Jersey patch sponsorships have become a meaningful revenue stream for NBA teams since the league introduced them during the 2017-18 season, offering brands prominent visibility during broadcasts and in-arena. Placing the Paze name on Suns uniforms gives Early Warning a high-profile platform to build consumer awareness for its newer product in a competitive digital payments market that includes established names such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
The partnership underscores a broader push by bank-backed payment services to expand their consumer-facing brand recognition beyond the financial institutions that distribute them. Early Warning is owned by a consortium of major U.S. banks, and Paze is positioned as those banks' collective answer to dominant third-party wallet services.
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