The Sportsbiz Weekly Buzz is a collection of articles curated by Sports Networker’s Online Marketing Coordinator – Steve Richards Sports Business IMG Worldwide Squashes Rumors of Being Up For Sale “I immediately contacted Jim Gallagher, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at IMG Worldwide. Gallagher quickly put the rumor to bed. ”There aren’t ANY conversations going on…
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Sportsbiz Weekly Buzz – 11.11.29
The Sportsbiz Weekly Buzz is a collection of articles curated by Sports Networker’s Online Coordinator – Steve Richards Sports Business NBA’s Owners Win Big “After all the talk of a broken system and badly needed overhauls in the league, Saturday’s resolution produced one odd result: Fans won’t notice much of a difference.” Sports business maverick…
Voice of the Box with Nike Senior Footwear Designer
Voice of the Box sits down for an exclusive interview with Nike Senior footwear designer, Jason Mayden. Want to be inspired? Want some great tips to help your career search, Jason provides that and more!
LeBron James Shares New Image Through Nike Ad
Before you read further, watch Nike’s latest commercial, “Rise,” featuring LeBron James.
The Background
Since most of you already know the story, I’ll make this as quick as I can. Feel free to skip through if you know the background. The last four or five months have been interesting for the King. After seven years in Cleveland and no championship rings, LeBron James decided it was time to leave.
In a prime time ESPN event called The Decision, LeBron announced to the world that he would be “taking [his] talents to South Beach” to play for the Miami Heat. Cavs fans were furious, their hometown hero (LBJ is from Akron, Ohio) was leaving them, having never delivered the championship he promised.
Basketball fans from all over were upset as well, mainly with how LeBron decided to handle the announcement. Even though the money raised during the show was then donated to the Boys & Girls Club of America, most thought it was a pretentious and selfish way to announce his decision.
Throughout the offseason, LeBron has come under a lot of fire. He’s been called out for quitting on his team in the playoffs, for leaving Cleveland, for The Decision. Dan Gilbert, the Cavs’ owner, publicized a nasty letter about LeBron.
Recently, LBJ came out and said he thought that all of the backlash from The Decision was partially a race issue, and that if he were of a different skin color, none of this would have been a big deal. Also, in the past few weeks, LeBron has retweeted several hateful and derogatory tweets, examples of messages he says he receives every day.
In the end, LeBron’s image has changed from a beloved NBA superstar, a hometown hero, and possibly the one-day greatest basketball player of all time to the biggest villain in the league (yes, above Kobe, he’s going to get booed everywhere he goes), a selfish superstar who betrayed his city for more money (smaller contract, bigger endorsements), more fame, and an easier championship ring.
The Importance of Brand Loyalty
Just like with traditional marketing, is there brand loyalty when it comes to sports apparel?
adidas + UCF + Marcus Jordan – adidas = ???
It came as no surprise to learn that adidas and the University of Central Florida ended their eight-year $3 million marketing relationship five years early, last month. In what seemed to be a case of miscommunication and disagreement over whether UCF basketball player Marcus Jordan could wear his father Michael’s signature Nike shoes during Knights’…