The NBA heading into All-Star Weekend is “enjoying a bounce in almost every area of its business, despite a lockout that shortened the season by 16 games and created ill will among owners and players and even fans,” according to Sam Mamudi of MARKETWATCH. The league is “seeing more TV viewers, increased merchandise sales and higher attendance figures, building on what was one of its strongest seasons.” Turner President of Sales, Distribution & Sports David Levy said, “I always thought the NBA brand would weather the lockout.” Turner Sports VP/Strategy, Marketing & Programming Christina Miller said that there are “plans to capitalize on the interest, especially on NBA TV.” The channel will see “more original programming, including new episodes of its ‘Open Court’ round-table talk show, and one-off programming, such as a documentary about Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, the 50th anniversary of which comes March 2.” Meanwhile, sales at NBAStore.com since the start of the season “are up about 30% from last year, while daily unique visitors have increased 10%” (MARKETWATCH.com, 2/22).
STERN TALKS ABOUT LIN: NBA Commissioner David Stern said the interest around Knicks G Jeremy Lin on a “global scale is resonating particularly in China." He said while the league has not "started deep measurements, we can tell you anecdotally that there is a kind of frenzy that mirrors the frenzy” in the U.S. Stern: “When the New York Times or USA Today each has five Jeremy Lin articles on a given day, you can imagine what is going on in China. ... It’s really very good and very helpful for our business, literally all over the world because the story is such an intriguing one” (“Sportfolio,” Bloomberg TV, 2/22). ESPN’s Michael Smith said, “We should be thankful for Jeremy Lin because ... he has rescued a lockout truncated NBA regular season that a lot of people think is meaningless anyway.” He added, “David Stern should be thankful for finding this guy, not just because of his appeal to the Asian market” (“Numbers Never Lie,” ESPN2, 2/22).
