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A Bridge To Tomorrow: Rebranded Brooklyn Nets Merchandise Flying Off Shelves

Monday was the second-largest web traffic day on NBAStore.com since the start of the '11-12 season due in large part to the Nets unveiling their rebranding efforst in conjunction with their move to Brooklyn, and Nets merchandise represents 27% of total sales for the day combined on the website and the NBA Store in N.Y. Since the launch of the rebrand, the Nets have been the top-selling team overall on NBAStore.com and at the physical store. Sales on Netsstore.com Monday were more than double the total sales for the entire ‘10-11 season. Modell's, the Nets' official sporting goods retailer, sold more Nets merchandise Monday than all of last season (NBA). In L.A., Chuck Schilken writes the relocation of the team is a "new beginning for the sports-deprived fans of Brooklyn." Schilken: "Hopefully, it also will be a fresh start for a franchise that has suffered a dramatic fall in recent years.” If the new logo “symbolizes a return to the glory years for Brooklyn sports fans, one can only hope that all the change can also bring about a return to glory for the team as well” (L.A. TIMES, 5/2).

STARTING OVER: In New Orleans, Jeff Duncan reports more than 86% of 5,035 respondents in a Nola.com poll indicated that Hornets Owner Tom Benson "should change the Hornets' name." Benson has repeatedly stated he wants to give the team a new name that more reflects the New Orleans region, but a name change "likely won't become a reality before 2014." Duncan writes Benson and his management team “would be wise to consider the rebranding job” done by the Nets. Whether fans are “gaga over the spartan urban look or not, you can’t argue with the strategy behind it,” and the Hornets’ rebranding “needs to be planned just as carefully because you only get one chance to do this -- and it must be done right.” Duncan: “There’s been talk of changing the color scheme to the Saints’ black and gold combination. In my mind, that would be a mistake. The Hornets need to be treated as a separate entity. They aren’t, as one executive said recently, ‘Saints Light.’” Meanwhile, the name Dukes “has gained some currency in local circles," and Duncan writes it is "starting to grow on me” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/2).

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.

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