Mix Tape Tour gets ready to hit the streets

Basketball sneaker and apparel brand And 1 enters the seventh year of its Mix Tape Tour with AEG Live as the new promoter/production company.

The 25-city event, which showcases And 1’s stable of street basketball stars, starts June 4 at the Home Depot Center near Los Angeles and ends at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Aug. 25. The accompanying “Streetball” ESPN reality show, which seems to air as much as any programming the network plays in warm weather, begins in July. ESPN has renewed the show for this year and next.

Mountain Dew returns as presenting sponsor. Other returning partners are the U.S. Army, Boost Mobile, KFC and Gamestop. New sponsors include Old Spice’s Red Zone young adult line, Finish Line and Greyhound. The tour is looking for auto and snack food sponsors.

Late in the year, the tour will go international. Thirty games are planned for the Pacific Rim, along with Central and South America.

— Terry Lefton