Many times sports get caught up in their own branding opportunities, often at the expense of the greater good of the sport they represent. There have been countless stories of MLB chasing down rights fees for Little League or the Cape Cod League, or Major League Lacrosse and the National Lacrosse Leagu.fighting against themselves for marketing space and fan dollars. While in many cases the ideal is valid, the execution may not be, and the brand becomes more important than the essence of the sport. One league which has seen the growth of the sport as the next evolution in its brand success is the NBA, and the continued recent developments with worldwide and grassroots partnerships show that David Stern's vision, now more global and more towards all things basketball, is a smart way to marry all aspects of the game and aggregate worldwide eyes and content, which will again be best for the game. This week's.Sports Business Journal shows two of the most recent manifestations of that vision. The first is with the NBA's new partnership with the Harlem Globetrotters, one of the sports biggest ambassadors worldwide but until today a brand outside of the NBA scope of assets. The second was the announcement o.?Kevin Weiberg to oversee the NBA's new partnership with the NCAA. Both relationships may not be 100% favorable to dollars and NBA brand today, but they show to the world an investment in the sport amongst its partners that many other sports are not willing to make, usually for the sake of a dollar today. That investment, along with the good will and partnership opportunities to be potentially created, will bear fruit as the investment plays out, and makes the NBA as a brand, and then the sport as a whole, more valuable for the future.
Some other good reads…MLB.com has a good profile of Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng…Daily Oklahoman has a good profile of Hornets owner George Shinn…the Washington Post's Tom Boswell has an insightful look at the Redskins season to date…and the Gonzaga Bulletin has a pretty good look back over how ten years of athletic success has impacted the University and what changes are still to come.
