Marketers Surprised By Emergence Of Jeremy Lin, Trying To Produce Merchandise

Knicks G Jeremy Lin's rise to stardom has proved "too quick for professional basketball’s marketing machine," according to Patrick McGeehan of the N.Y. TIMES. No official merchandise bearing Lin’s name or No. 17 jersey was "on sale at the shops in the lobby of Madison Square Garden or at any authorized retailers of Knicks merchandise" on Thursday. A clerk at the NBA's official store on Fifth Avenue said "a lot of people" had asked for Lin jerseys, but the store had none. Gerry Cosby & Co. Manager Jim Root, whose store near MSG supplies the Knicks with their uniforms, said that it "could be two weeks before officially licensed T-shirts arrived." He said that Lin’s "burst into prominence had caught Adidas, the league’s official provider of jerseys, flat-footed." The Knicks' online store Thursday morning started "taking orders for $54.95 jerseys and $19.95 'Linsanity' T-shirts that would not be shipped before Feb. 20." A few MSG employees even "arranged orange numerals and white letters on blank blue Knicks jerseys, then lowered hot presses onto them." MSG PR Manager Stacey Escudero said that starting Friday morning, "as many as 200 of them will be offered for $54 in the stores inside the arena." She added that MSG officials "hoped that some of the T-shirts would arrive before the 8 p.m. tipoff" against the Lakers (N.Y. TIMES, 2/10). Meanwhile, the NBA’s official store in midtown Manhattan said that it "expects to have the short-sleeved jersey T-shirts available in about a week-and-a-half, with jerseys from adidas, the league’s official supplier, expected to be available in about three weeks" (N.Y. POST, 2/10). In N.Y., Rich Schapiro notes Lin jerseys will be available at "three Modell’s stores in midtown and at the Madison Square Garden souvenir shops," as the company is "pulling a batch of the jerseys off the production line early in order to satisfy the red-hot demand." Lin’s play has also "spawned a flood of unofficial T-shirts honoring the breakout star, with one of them featuring a picture of Lin over the letters WWJD and the words What Would Jeremy Lin Do?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/10). Also in N.Y., Keil & Li note the Knicks' team store is "loaded up with 'Linsanity' T-shirts, Lin posters and Lin's Knick jerseys for what's expected to be big sales" Friday (N.Y. POST, 2/10).

THE MOST LINTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD: In DC, Matt Brooks wrote Lin’s "novelty factor is the driving force behind his soaring popularity," But in the post-Yao Ming NBA, he "just might be the player to further the league's growth in Asia, while continuing to inspire athletes to break the mold." Lin is the first American-born player of Chinese descent to play in the NBA, and when the Warriors signed Lin out of Harvard as a free agent, they "saw his ethnicity as a way to market their team" throughout the Bay Area. With Lin’s "sudden emergence this week, the Knicks and the NBA likely have similar thoughts" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/9). Also in DC, Mike Wise notes since he was "summoned from the Knicks bench on Feb. 2 to Thursday, Lin has gained 60,000 followers on Sina (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter)." Lin "doesn’t know it yet, but some of his friends have already begun referring to him as 'the Asian Tebow' or 'Tebow 2.0'" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/10).

GIVE ME SOMETHING, ANYTHING: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jason Gay writes more than anything, the "rapid ascension of Jeremy Lin is another blaring reminder of how starved and desperate and ready New York is for great basketball" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/10). In N.Y., Mike Vaccaro writes Lin has "strung together three games that have injected passion and energy and -- most important -- fun into a Knicks season that 15 minutes ago seemed like it was careening into the harbor" (N.Y. POST, 2/10). ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said of Lin, “Three games, two starts, immortality.” But ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser said he is "buying into the phenomenon” surrounding Lin. Kornheiser: "A phenomenon is usually fairly brief and I want to be there for the duration of it” (“PTI,” ESPN, 2/9). Lin appeared on the back pages of all three major N.Y. tabloids Friday morning.