Into the “seemed like a good idea at time” file this week goes the D-League's Utah Flash, who staged an elaborate and well attended hoax, luring thousands of fans to their game against Dakota with the thought they were going to see NBA legend Michael Jordan take on former Jazz nemesis Bryon Russell in a halftime exhibition that would recreate Jordan's jumper over Russell in the NBA Finals, one of the greatest shots in NBA history. In retrospect, the idea was all about what makes minor league sports great…a larger than life promotion that lures fans to entertain them regardless of the outcome on the floor. It is something that D-League commish Dan Reed does better and better with his clubs each year and has helped slowly grow the D-League into an effective promotional tool in smaller markets for professional hoops. The challenge had a large price tag for the event ($100,000 offered up to Jordan) a solid viral campaign that had Jordan sightings all about town and all over radio and the digital space, a boastful owner in Brandt Andersen and a willing foil in Russell to go along with it. The only problem with the stunt was that there was never a big inkling of what was actually going on until the fake Jordan showed up on the court to a chorus of boos and disappointed fans, which cost Andersen some money in refunded tickets and Reed some issues with the public. Still to call the stunt a “fiasco” is unfair and untrue. It brought attention to the franchise, it was meant to be fun and lighthearted (and could have been a fun fake promo, although not to the tune of 7,000 fans probably), it showed how well digital media can drive rumors and innuendo and it had willing participants. Is it a problem that no one in the media caught on, (although Steve Luhm's piece in the Salt Lake Tribune Sunday was full of innuenedo and disclaimer which left more than enough open that it was a stunt) or check with Jordan's folks (or even the Bobcats, where he is a part owner) to see if it was tru. No. Should the team have teased a bit more to lead people to believe it was a hoa. Probably. Still it was not Disco Demolition Night, it was not some of the poor taste promotions that ask people to show up to mimic celebrity criminals and at the end of the day the owner fixed a wrong by offering refunds. Was the intent exactly what the minors are supposed to b. Absolutely. Maybe it needed a bit of tweaking and a tad more honesty, but one has to give the franchise credit for pulling it off and understanding that sport is supposed to be fun, and at the D-league level all about promotion.
