The Pacers' new "Hoosiers"-inspired jerseys "look great," and the team's deal with MGM Studios, which produced the movie, "feels like a conceptual coup," according to Paul Lukas of ESPN.com. Pacers Sports & Entertainment Senior VP and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Todd Taylor said the team in January '14 "started doing some research and realized the 30th anniversary of the movie was coming up" in '16. The team contacted MGM, and Taylor added, "Both sides said: 'Yeah, this would be cool, so let's figure out how to get it done.'" He said, "Once MGM was receptive, we contacted the league, and they worked with Adidas to create prototypes and designs." Taylor said it is a "bit of a unique deal" between the team and MGM regarding a licensing fee. But he added, "We're in this jointly together." Taylor said the team considered wearing jerseys of Milan High School, which the movie's Hickory High is based on, but he said the team "didn't go in that direction" because they "want to connect with a lot of the great stories from Indiana." Taylor: "By using Hickory, which really represents the whole state, it doesn't force us to focus on just one team or one area." He added, "The uniform is cool and very visible, but it lends itself to a bunch of other applications, honoring people for their contributions to Indiana basketball. We've talked to MGM about maybe auctioning off the uniforms and using the proceeds to provide uniforms to schools that need them. Those are the sorts of things we'll be able to do with this partnership" (ESPN.com, 7/21).
JERSEY LIKELY TO BE A BIG SELLER: ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser said “Hoosiers” is “universally regarded as one of the greatest sports films of all time,” and he predicted they will be the "biggest sellers of any uniform, any jersey, in the NBA next year.” ESPN's Michael Wilbon said, "You would think they'd wear them on big games that are nationally televised so people can see them. I think this is a brilliant marketing campaign" ("PTI," ESPN, 7/21). ESPN’s Bomani Jones said the color scheme "looks pretty cool," but admitted he would "probably feel differently about them if I didn't fervently believe that ‘Hoosiers’ was the most over-rated sports movie of all time” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 7/21). ESPN’s Keith Olbermann said the jerseys were not a tribute to Indiana basketball, but instead a “tribute to selling more jerseys at the Pacers team store" (“Olbermann,” ESPN2, 7/21). Meanwhile, in Chicago, David Haugh wrote people praising the uniforms "missed the point," and if the Pacers "wanted to pay tribute to the rich heritage of Indiana high school basketball ... then they should have honored the team that inspired the movie," Milan High (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/22).
HISTORY REMINDER: YAHOO SPORTS' Dan Devine wrote he hopes the Pacers will have a "follow-up nod to Crispus Attucks High School, the Oscar Robertson-led squad that won the next two Indiana state championships after Milan, becoming the first all-black team in the country to win a state title" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/21). ESPN's Wilbon said, "You have to connect with high school basketball, with the entire culture. But that also means somebody at the Pacers better be smart enough to understand next better be the Crispus Attucks uniforms of Oscar Robertson, and then you get very inclusive in that state and you resonate with everyone who cares about basketball” (“PTI,” ESPN, 7/21). The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan said if the Pacers wear the Hickory jerseys, they "better wear some Crispus Attucks jerseys for a few games, too, to remind people about the other part of the Indiana history that they don't want to talk about.” The Washington Post’s Kevin Blackistone said it would be OK if the Pacers wear the Hickory jerseys "during the preseason for a game." Blackistone: "But when you say that takes me back to a time and a place that’s special, that’s not so special for most of the people in the NBA back in 1954 when that school was playing" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 7/21).
