NBA Selling Sponsorships Around FIBA Tourney

By John Ourand, Staff Writer

The NBA has signed several advertisers to TV sponsorship packages to the FIBA Americas Championship, which starts Wednesday in Las Vegas, across four cable networks: ESPN2, ESPN Classic, FSN and NBA TV.  So far, NBA/USA Basketball sponsors Sprite, McDonald’s, Nike, Gatorade and EA Sports, as well as NBA sponsor Haier and USA Basketball sponsor State Farm have signed up for these packages, which include marketing rights, hospitality and courtside signage, in addition to 30-second spots.  NBA officials would not comment on the value of these packages. Three of these sponsors are also FIBA partners, with State Farm sponsoring the on-screen starting lineup, McDonald’s taking the half-time statistics and Haier sponsoring the “Play of the Game.”  The NBA has also signed deals with FIBA partners Molten, Adecco, Nokia and Champion. “This tournament is going to be one of the most looked at tournaments of the summer,” said NBA Senior VP/ Marketing Mark Tatum. Tatum predicted a lot of interest based on the fact that it is being played in the U.S. for the first time since '92 and occurring less than a year before the Olympics.

TV TIME: NBA TV plans to televise 40 games, with ESPN2 and ESPN Classic televising all ten of the U.S. games, plus the two semifinals on September 1.  FSN will telecast 12 games, including the Bronze and Gold medal games. NBA TV will air the U.S. games on tape delay and will simulcast FSN’s games. The tournament’s top two teams receive automatic bids to the '08 Summer Olympics in Beijing.