The Sports Professor’s Weekly Sports and Entertainment Dollar
By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek And the Winner of the Heat-Mavericks Series is…American Airlines
With NBA Finals In Front of Him, LeBron Bounces Back
Three games away from his first NBA Championship, the Miami Heat's LeBron James glows as his brand is finally on its way back following his highly publicized signing with the team last summer. James' No. 6 jersey ended up as the league's best-seller this year, and his Nike basketball shoe was the top-seller on the market. Enhancing James’ profile, the largest audiences in the history of NBA cable broadcasts are watching Heat playoff games; total NBA Playoff viewership is up 30% over last year.
James weathered the storm of his move from Cleveland to Miami by maintaining a low profile during the season. Now, he is shining bright on the sport's grandest stage, as he faces Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
The outlook for NBA labor peace isn’t as rosy: last week, the NBPA filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the league with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging among other charges that the NBA was dealing directly with players and bypassing the union, as well as failing to provide relevant financial information requested by the NBPA to understand its financial demands. The charges were filed in the NLRB's New York office ahead of the June 30 NBA CBA expiration date.
The league is denying the charges by the union.
On Wednesday, the NBA and the NBPA took their talents to the bargaining table in Miami (to paraphrase NBA Commissioner David Stern), with two more bargaining sessions expected when the Finals move to Dallas for Game Three. "The question is whether the owners and the players will be bold enough to what has to be done here to keep this sport on the track that it is on now, which is straight up," Stern said during a press conference prior to the Finals Game One.
But first, the hardwood games before the boardroom games.
Whether Miami or Dallas eventually prevails on the hardwood, American Airlines is the clear winner in the court of impressions. In a sports marketing exacta, American owns the naming rights to both the American Airlines Center in Dallas and American Airlines Arena in Miami. Throughout the NBA regular season, American generates significant local and national brand awareness with arena sponsorships in two of its major hubs. But now that the NBA Finals are underway, American’s exposure quotient will reach exponential figures. Front Row Marketing speculates that every game in Dallas and Miami would be worth over $10 million in advertising exposure to American, based on signage placement in each arena. As good as that brand awareness is, American is merely using the TV exposure as a takeoff point. This week, the airline launched a series of Finals-pegged promotions, including the "All American Airlines Shoot Out," a social media game playable on Facebook and Internet-ready mobile devices in which users participate by shooting baskets for either Dallas or Miami, as well as in-game promotions involving free airline tickets. The airline’s biggest NBA Finals-related promotion is AAdvantage "Around the World," which celebrates the 30th anniversary of the AAdvantage frequent flyer program. One lucky fan will have the opportunity to win AAdvantage miles by making a variety of shots. The fan will start with a layup (worth 12,500 miles), then shoot a free throw (worth 30,000 miles), a three-pointer (worth 50,000 miles), and a half-court shot (worth 100,000 miles). LeBronathon NBA fans from Florida to Texas and elsewhere should get ready to see more TV commercials featuring James and teammate Dwyane Wade during the Finals’ fortnight – and not just during the games. During Tuesday's Game One, James appeared in ads for McDonald’s and Sprite, while Wade hawked T-Mobile. The NBA remains the most successful sports league in the SportsPro 50 rankings, with seven NBA stars on the list. Carmelo Anthony is sixth following his mid-season move from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks. The list also includes Bryant, Wade, Kevin Durant, Yao Ming, and Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets, who, thanks to Russian owner Mikhail Prokohorov, have the potential to become the NBA’s first truly global franchise. The SportsPro 50 Most Marketable 2011, published in the June edition of SportsPro magazine, rates athletes from across the world ranked according to their marketing potential over a three-year period starting this summer. The list’s key tenet is the search for value for marketing money. As such, the likes of Roger Federer, Thierry Henry, David Beckham, and Michael Schumacher – global household names – are not included in the rankings, as the cost of an endorsement with them is likely to be at its peak or, indeed, on the wane. Another star to miss out is Woods, who was third in last year’s list, but has failed to win a single tournament since his comeback from a personal timeout in April 2010. The NBA Goes Even More Global
Sports marketers point out that sponsor companies get extra recognition when celebrities in their ads are in the spotlight. In the Heat’s case, that means a chance to cash in for the likes of State Farm insurance, Nike Jordan sneakers, and other businesses that feature the Heat stars in ads by airing the commercials more frequently, as well as other channels.
"The Heat is generating a lot of excitement, and the ability to segue from the Heat brand to another brand is very powerful," Kathleen Davis, president of the Sport Management Research Institute, told the Palm Beach Post. "It's all about striking while the iron is hot."
A recent industry study ranked James as the world's No. 3 highest-paid athlete for the year ending May 2011, trailing only Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant.
James’ total compensation for the year was $48 million, including his NBA salaries and bonuses (both Cavaliers and Heat), appearances, and licensing and endorsement income from deals including Nike, Gatorade, Hubelot watches, and Mission Skincare.
Yet James is no longer the most marketable sports star in the world according to the SportsPro 50 Most Marketable 2011 – ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games, star sprinter Usain Bolt moves up from fourth last year to replace James at the top of the list .
In addition to having 3D broadcasts in top European markets, the NBA Finals are airing live in Germany on Sport+ with additional coverage on Sport1, ARD, RTL and ZDF, as German fans watch Nowitzki try to capture his first title and avenge what happened in 2006. That year, Dallas had a 2-0 series lead in the Finals and led by 13 points late in Game 3 before collapsing and losing four consecutive games. Both on the court and in the court of public opinion, the stakes this year are high indeed.
More than 315 international media members from 37 countries are covering the action in Miami and Dallas. Additionally, 31 broadcast partners are airing the NBA Finals for the first time.
The newness doesn’t stop there. Taking technology to its next logical global conclusion, the first-ever international in-home 3D broadcast of the NBA Finals is available in major markets including Australia, China, France, Turkey, and the U.K. Mimicking a popular pathway in the U.S, the games are live in 3D in more than 35 movie theaters in France, and the first-ever NBA 3D public viewing events are taking place in China and Australia. Public viewings are also taking place in Japan, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, where more than 10,000 fans are expected to gather to root for Mavericks guard and native son Jose Juan Barea.
Fans in China will have more ways than ever to enjoy the NBA Finals across television, digital, and social media, and the NBA just announced a partnership with the Times Group in India, which has premiered its first-ever NBA section on the Times of India website.
