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Nets’ business growth reflects signings of Durant and Irving

Brooklyn signed superstars Kevin Durant (left) and Kyrie Irving to a pair of four-year contracts totaling $305 million.Getty Images

We’re not certain that the free-agent contracts handed out by the Brooklyn Nets this offseason to free agents Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving — four years, $164 million for the former and four years, $141 million for the latter — have been liquidated, even for a single season. But they may be close, because all of the team’s leading economic indicators are skyrocketing. Nets licensed apparel sales are up a remarkable 375% since July 1 across the Fanatics network of sites, which includes the bellwether NBAStore.com e-commerce destination. According to Brian Keegan, NBA vice president of retail, the team has moved from being one that generated sales “scratching the top 10” at all NBA-controlled outlets to being in the top five.

 

The Nets are also up 72% in ticket revenue versus a year ago, and the team’s Instagram following has swelled from 850,000 to 1.6 million in a year.

YES Network cable execs figured the heightened interest in the Brooklyn team, forever trying to step out of the New York Knicks’ shadow, was enough to support doubling advertising rates. Even at that, they may have underestimated the Durant/Irving multiple, because ad sales to date have already increased by 50%, according to Howard Levinson, YES Network SVP of ad sales, and that’s with the assumption that Durant will miss most, if not all, of the upcoming season after rupturing his right Achilles tendon while playing for the Warriors in the NBA Finals in June.

“A year ago, no one was even talking about the Nets being a playoff team, which eventually they became,” he said. “They are not sneaking up on anyone and we have people calling us, based at least partially on where they could be whenever Durant starts playing again.”

Having a new and growing category that includes both gambling and gaming is helping a lot as well. Now those companies can run TV ads inside of games, which they couldn’t a year ago. Accordingly, FanDuel will have a large presence in the Nets pregame show and in-game. As many as three other gaming competitors are also expected to join the telecasts, but Levinson said they will attempt to avoid packing too many gambling ads even as that category becomes one of sports marketing’s most lucrative.

“It won’t rival automotive (traditionally, the top TV ad category), but it might come in right below that,” he said, adding that spending is still suppressed because New York state and Connecticut do not have legal sports bookmaking. New Jersey is still the only state in the tri-state area with legal sports bookmaking.

Verizon, returning after a two-year rollback, will sponsor the Nets postgame show. Other big advertisers include Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital, the New York State Lottery, Geico and Progressive. The ultimate goal is to double sales from last year, Levinson said.

Courtesy of The Strategic Agency

■ BEER BLAST: Labatt has renewed with some of its most important hockey sponsorships, re-inking with the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, along with USA Hockey, for which the brewer has been a corporate patron since 2003. Activation against that NGB’s rights will continue to support the beermaker’s longstanding pond hockey competition, along with its adult rec leagues. The Strategic Agency is Labatt’s longtime sports shop. Agency president Peter Stern sad that as with many updated team deals, the renewals include more digital, social and experiential elements, along with some individual game entitlements.

 

■ SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK 2: The recent licensing deals that haberdashery chain Tailored Brands made with the NFL and NHL were engineered by two familiar faces: Frank Vuono and Gene Goldberg, who put in around 40 years between them at NFL consumer products. Tailored is the parent company of Men’s Wearhouse and Joesph A. Bank. Under the agreement, fans can order custom-made sport coats and suits with digitally printed linings bearing the indicia of NFL and NHL teams, which adds around $50 to the cost of the garment and takes four to six weeks from order to delivery. The concept had been progressing since the spring 2018. Moving forward, expanding the licenses to include shirts, vests and neckwear is expected, according to our sources, along with some potential collegiate licenses.

 

Team pride gets dressed up with Tailored Brands.Courtesy of Tailored Brands

Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

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