The NBA All-Star Game is the league’s biggest event but it’s never big enough for organizers who continually look for ways to include more fans and sponsors, no matter where the game is played.
Last season, the game was held in New York City, with all five boroughs involved in All-Star activation. For the 2015-16 season, Toronto plays host to the weeklong All-Star festivities, and while the two cities may be different, one thing won’t change.
 |
The NBA House at Moynihan Station was a popular spot during All-Star Week in New York.
Photo by: NBAE / Getty Images |
“The one thing that is always consistent is that it is the celebration of our game,” said Danny Meiseles, president and executive producer of content for the NBA. “Then you retrofit it into the market. We are always thinking about how to innovate and improve and set the bar higher.”
Social media has become one avenue of change driven by the league in adding more global relevance to All-Star. At last season’s All-Star Week, the league created the State Farm All-Star Assist Center and Instagram Subway Photo Booth. The NBA is in discussions with sponsors for other activations while working with social media companies to enhance its digital campaigns for All-Star 2016.
“It is something we are always looking to improve,” Meiseles said, adding that the strategy is to give fans around the globe the “real-time experience of being there.”
The NBA’s All-Star activation in Canada actually will begin at the start of the season as the league kicks off a seasonlong plan to hold youth clinics in 125 Canadian communities.
During All-Star Week next season, the league will hold around-the-clock clinics on the Friday of All-Star Week at various Toronto venues including Ricoh Place and Direct Energy Centre.
Toronto’s Exhibition Place will be the site for much of the league’s sponsorship activation activities, taking the place of the NBA’s past Jam Session fanfests.
As in the past, the NBA is using third-party vendors to help create the various venues in the All-Star market. “This is a very large overall event to manage and we always need extra resources,” Meiseles said.
Meiseles also works closely with Emilio Collins, who heads up the NBA’s global marketing partnership business, to grow sponsorship activation around All-Star Week.
“We like to give them a broad base on things we are focused on and we hear what their goals are,” Meiseles said. “They want to help us promote the greatest athletes in the world.”
The NBA also will use history to promote the All-Star event. After all, it was at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens where in 1946 Ossie Schectman of the New York Knicks scored the first basket in NBA history, coming in a game against the Toronto Huskies.
The NBA also will use the All-Star Game to celebrate the 125th anniversary of when Canadian-born James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891.
“There is a rich history of basketball in Canada,” Meiseles said.
