Menu
Marketing and Sponsorship

Lin Debuts New Nike Shoe During Rising Stars Challenge, But No Signature Line Yet

Nike created the Nike Zoom Hyperfuse Low iD basketball shoe, which Knicks G Jeremy Lin wore Friday night when he played in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge during NBA All-Star Weekend, according to Allan Brettman of the Portland OREGONIAN. The $130 shoe “won't be available at off-the-shelf retail, but can be created and purchased at the NikeID.com website.” With this announcement, Nike “answers the question of whether Lin will have his own signature shoe,” and the answer, “at least at this time, is no” (OREGONLIVE.com, 2/24). Meanwhile, YAHOO SPORTS’ Adrian Wojnarowski wrote the global impact of Lin is “unmistakable, and he represents the perfect re-entry into a Far East market that has become immensely important for the sport’s biggest stars.” Lin “isn’t stealing the lights from the NBA’s iconic players, but making them even brighter.” Giovanni Funicello, an agent “who has emerged as a prominent powerbroker between Asia and North America,” said, “In this moment, there’s no doubt in my mind that Jeremy has become as big of a star as Kobe [Bryant] and LeBron [James] are over there -- and maybe bigger” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/24). The AP’s Brian Mahoney noted the NBA “determined there would be too many reporters and cameras to have Lin meet with the media Friday along with the other players in the Rising Stars Challenge.” So the league “gave him his own availability, territory that only goes to” NBA Commissioner David Stern (AP, 2/24).

LINSANITY CONTINUES: In N.Y., Frank Isola notes during ASG weekend, “Everywhere Lin went crowds followed.” Isola: “From the hotel to the arena to an autograph signing at a local mall, Lin was the must-see face of All-Star Weekend and the player everyone was talking about. Think Justin Bieber with a cross-over” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/27). Meanwhile, in Miami, Joseph Goodman wrote the NBA All-Star Weekend “has morphed into a three-day event geared toward selling basketball to the world, but mostly to the Chinese.” The popularity of the NBA in China “likely means this is the last All-Star Game to feature” Heat G Dwayne Wade as a starter. Goodman: “If you think that’s a ridiculous statement, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention the past month. Linsanity is here to stay, and it’s a safe bet to assume that the Chinese fan vote will bump Wade out of the starting lineup of the All-Star Game next season in favor of Lin” (MIAMI HERALD, 2/26).

MONEY IS THERE TO BE MADE: Former Reebok President and current Bloomberg Contributing Editor Jay Margolis appeared on Bloomberg TV’s “In the Loop” this morning to discuss Lin, and Margolis said Lin “has done a really good job of coming on the scene and energizing New York and energizing the team." Margolis: "He will make money from this. He’s unique in terms of both his academic background and being Asian. It’s a great story.” The endorsements “will be rolling in by the ton." Margolis: "He has to be smart enough -- which I’m guessing he is -- to really pick the ones that are meaningful, that are long term, that are going to build things in a really credible way over a 10-year period of time. He doesn’t need to have a one-shot wonder and have a lot of people throwing a lot of things at him early and taking products … that he’ll be regretting about later” (“In the Loop,” Bloomberg TV, 2/27).

REVERSE COURSE
: In Boston, Matt Rocheleau noted a local branch of Ben & Jerry’s has “apologized for briefly offering a frozen yogurt flavor inspired" by Lin that included fortune cookie pieces, in “an acknowledgment that the dish could be seen as playing on Asian stereotypes.” The store Friday “replaced the fortune cookie pieces ingredient with a waffle cookie served on the side (BOSTON.com, 2/26). In Toronto, Cathal Kelly writes in “attempting to protect Jeremy Lin, a few of his supporters are inadvertently fulfilling the key goal of all bigots -- reducing a real person to a racial construct” (TORONTO STAR, 2/27).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/02/27/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Lin-Mkting.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/02/27/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Lin-Mkting.aspx

CLOSE