Heat fans "returned to stores Friday morning in search of 2013 NBA Championship merchandise," according to WSVN.com. About two dozen customers "showed up just before 6 a.m. at the Sports Authority in Midtown Miami, hours after the Heat won the championship." Lines "looked like Black Friday at stores across South Florida" (WSVN.com, 6/21). In Ft. Lauderdale, Doreen Hemlock reported Heat fans "swarmed sports shops, department stores and websites to snap up NBA Championship gear" on Friday. Data from research firm SportsOneSource shows that Heat gear has been "selling at a torrid pace this year, faster than NBA merchandise as a whole." Data also shows that Heat merchandise sales from February through May rose about 50% "from the same time last year, while NBA sales slipped." SportsOneSource analyst Matt Powell said that the Heat sold about $770M in retail merchandise in FY '12, up from $535M in '11 (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 6/23). Meanwhile, 5,000 Heat NBA championship basketballs -- "officially licensed by the league and Spalding -- are being sold to fans to help get wishes granted for South Florida Make A Wish children." Each ball "has the NBA Finals logo on it" and retails for $99. The basketballs are "full sized and have several white panels that contain historical information and salute all three of the Heat’s NBA titles" (PALM BEACH POST, 6/24).
KING DOM: ESPN.com's Darren Rovell reported the Heat's championship celebration Thursday night "provided quite the visibility for French winery Moët & Chandon." Not only was its Dom Perignon brand being "imbibed by the Heat party at the club, but its Moët Ice Imperial champagne was being spritzed in the locker room on television." However, that "wasn't free," as the company "paid to be the official champagne of the Heat's playoff run" (ESPN.com, 6/22).
FASHIONABLE FOOTWEAR: ESPN’s Rovell reported Nike this year issued more color variations of the LeBron X “than of the previous shoes,” with about 20 different colors. Rovell: “They’re obviously going to do more. They’re already doing a championship box of two pairs of shoes. I would expect with the LeBron XI's they're going to continue to do, every week of the basketball season, they'll do a different look, limited edition because people just don’t want the mass, one release a year” (“Outside The Lines,” ESPN, 6/21).
