Sponsors and licensees were pleased with how NBA All-Star festivities played out.Terry Lefton / staff
Charlotte Hornets President Fred Whitfield and Pete Guelli, team chief sales and marketing officer, were paying particular attention to NBA All-Star festivities given that Charlotte will finally play host to the event next year.
The Hornets were set to host the marquee event last year until the game was shifted to New Orleans in response to North Carolina’s HB2 law, which limited legal protection for LGBT individuals. The shift put a hold on showcasing Charlotte, but the delay also has had a few advantages.
The move allowed the team over the past year to complete renovations to the Spectrum Center before All-Star comes to town. In addition, Nike this year replaced Adidas as the league’s official outfitter, preventing any conflict with the Jordan Brand and a certain team owner who will host next year’s All-Star Game.
To help familiarize Charlotte city officials with All-Star logistics, the Hornets brought about 30 local executives to Los Angeles.
“We are more prepared,” Whitfield said of Charlotte’s renewed All-Star organizing while sitting inside the Beverly Hilton Hotel after the conclusion of the NBA Tech Summit on All-Star Friday.
While the Hornets can’t deliver weather any better than this year’s Southern California sunshine during All-Star Weekend, Guelli offered that Charlotte will be more than gracious hosts and cited a central downtown core as a key point.
“It will be more intimate,” he said of next year’s All-Star Game. “The city wants this and needs it.”
■ ADIDAS ACTIVATION: In its first year without NBA on-court rights since 2006, Adidas staged its biggest All-Star Game activation in memory, transforming the former American Apparel factory and a 50,000-square-foot warehouse, along with 250,000 square feet of adjoining lots, into a massive installation, including a performance stage, basketball court, retail, and “brand immersion” spaces.
“Adiophiles” were offered chances at exclusive product releases, panel discussions, celebrity basketball games and musical performances. With around 20,000 people passing through over two days, the festival of hoops and hip-hop was sizable enough to require its own security force, medical tent and rideshare lot. Freed from the restraint required of an official league sponsor/licensee, Adidas veered left from basketball authenticity — and deep into lifestyle.
Adidas may no longer be a league partner, but its presence was hard to miss.Terry Lefton / staff
So where was all this ambitious (and costly) activation over the last decade or so, when the brand held on-court NBA rights? “Considering the size of NBA rights fees, they probably couldn’t afford something that big,” offered one industry source in L.A.
■ BALL GAME: Another basketball endemic product seeking further credibility in the lifestyle space is Spalding. The 142-year-old brand, which has held NBA official ball rights since 1983, staged a “Backcourt” brand showcase, with a mix of DJ, product, and pop culture on display. Spalding also staged a panel discussion on basketball and culture, which included NBA All-Star Chris Paul, and it organized a competition at USC’s Marshall School of Business to find the most innovative basketball startup. The winner of the $10,000 first prize was FanWide, which helps out-of-market fans locate watch parties and fan clubs.
Spalding products will also veer into the lifestyle segment, via brand collaborations with the likes of Sprayground and Just Don.
“We’re creating more reasons to buy more basketballs,” said Kenyatta Bynoe, Spalding vice president of global brand marketing.
■ SIXERS SUCCESS: The “process” is paying off.
The Philadelphia 76ers haven’t been to the playoffs since the 2011-12 season, but the team’s deliberate rebuilding on the court is paying dividends.
Just four years ago, the Sixers had only 3,000 full-season ticket holders. Now, as the team battles for an Eastern Conference playoff berth, season-ticket sales have been capped at 14,300 and the team has a season-ticket waiting list of more than 7,000.
The team, which began its season-ticket renewal efforts on Feb. 15, is forecasting a renewal rate between 85 percent and 90 percent, despite an overall ticket price average increase of 18 percent.
“We are bullish,” said Chris Heck, president of business operations for the Sixers, of the renewal strategy. “We were bracing ourselves a bit, but the initial reaction has been fine. We’ve been conservative as we’ve rebuilt the franchise.”
The Sixers at the All-Star break had a 30-25 record and stood as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The team already has won more games than all of last season, when they went 28-54.
The improvement is also driving sponsorship revenue, with a 50 percent increase in sales this year.
■ NEW NBA APPROACH: NBA veteran executive Amy Brooks last November was named the league’s first chief innovation officer, while also becoming president of the league’s team marketing and business operations division. One of Brooks’ first efforts as CIO was to help create a 12-member Business and Basketball Committee made up of general managers, team presidents and CEOs to focus on new business and basketball operations strategies.
The panel has begun meeting and as the second half of the season gets underway, look for the committee to ramp up efforts to create ways to grow the game.
“We are excited about it,” Brooks said on All-Star Saturday night after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s state of the league news conference. “We are talking about innovating on and off the court and addressing some of the harder opportunities together. We’ve been having discussion around different formats for our game.”
One new initiative by the league is having all 30 teams play in this year’s Summer League in Las Vegas. Another long-term idea includes the potential for an in-season tournament.
The committee’s effort comes with the NBA on track for a record number of sellouts. The league this season has sold the second-highest number of season tickets and expects to meet or exceed last year’s season-ticket renewal rate that was in the mid-80th percentile.
Spalding staged a “Backcourt” showcase that blended the brand with pop culture.Spalding
■ ALL-STAR SALES: NBA licensees entered the break confident about sales prospects for the third All-Star Game in L.A. in 14 years, and their optimism was not unfounded. Overall, All-Star Game merchandise sales increased 23 percent over 2017, although that game was in the considerably smaller New Orleans market. NBA officials would not say where sales ranked relative to other All-Star Games.
Venue sales were the highest for any NBA All-Star Game, excluding 2010, which was played in what’s now AT&T Stadium. Also reaching new highs were sales of All-Star Game merchandise on NBAstore.com, helped by a more than 200 percent multiple over last year on the Monday after the game.
Adding the Jordan Brand’s Jumpman logo to Nike’s All-Star jerseys helped boost sales. Nike’s Jordan Brand “Swingman” jerseys topped the sales parade, with the black versions slightly outselling white models. Dollar volume sales for jerseys nearly doubled year-to-year, according to Chris Brennan, the NBA’s senior vice president of sales development and retail marketing. Top selling All-Star Game jerseys by player were: 1. Steph Curry; 2. LeBron James; 3. Giannis Antetokounmpo; 4. Joel Embiid; and 5. Kyrie Irving.
■ ALL ABOUT ACTIVATION: L.A. is diverse enough geographically that activation can be challenging, but partner activation downtown, largely experiential, was widespread, generally impressive and well-attended.
In the days after the game, NBA Senior Vice President Kerry Tatlock said that absent complete metrics, anecdotal reports from partners had them satisfied with both the traffic at their installations and the social media content they generated, with both exceeding projections. Tatlock highlighted new sponsor activation during arena events, including Mountain Dew and the Rising Stars Game, and Ruffles’ presenting sponsorship of the Celebrity Game and its four-point challenge. Increased youth activities came from the likes of Gatorade and Under Armour.
