Everyone Has Ideas, But Executing Them? Emirates NBA Cup Shows How Proof of Concept Works

When I was with the Knicks we were practicing at Pauley Pavillion one day, and Larry Brown walked in and told a story. Pointing to the end zone he told me to see the banners up there…the only ones hanging were for National Championships. “That was Coach Wooden, when I became head coach here I walked in and he pointed to those banners and said ‘That’s all we hang here, everything else is not what we do.’”

I thought about that quote as the Knicks rolled to the Emirates NBA Cup last night, and talk of banner raisings were part of it. What? Knicks banners hang for championships and titles accomplished in the spring, and for legends who have played for the organization, not for an in season tournament just a few years old that doesn’t affect the a season of play. Is it another example of everyone gets a trophy?.

Well, there are other banners atop MSG. Harry Styles, Phish, Steffi Graf used to have one, Billy Joel…so if it makes the young fans happy….meh.

PS. No banner raising.

Banner raising aside, the Emirates NBA Cup continues to do something that is perhaps the hardest to do in sport outside of winning a title. Prove  concept has value. We are in an era of overflowing startup “leagues and events.” Creator leagues, snowboard leagues, multiple volleyball leagues, another women’s basketball league, women’s baseball, flag football, 7 on 7 soccer, 3 on 3 basketball, cornhole, paintball and on and on. All sound like good ideas, until someone has to do the work and prove that the concept is not just an idea but a viable business.

How many will last? Anyone seen World Team Tennis or the latest Arena Football iteration? How about Overwatch League or the AAFB?

Ideas are easy, execution at a high level, a financially viable level…is hard.

That’s what makes the Emirates NBA Cup important from an execution standpoint. The NBA took an issue…how to make the early part of the season more engaging for fans, partners, even the players…and have now built a viable property capable of answering many of those questions, with considerable room to grow.

The naysayers will point to load management, the fact that the games don’t count in the standings, seat fillers for the final two rounds, injury risks and the like, but the positives…an additional promotional and broadcast element for the league, relevance of early season games, the ability (as the Knicks have said) to be able to use this amped up event to stress test the mettle of the team in a tournament format, the ability to take the model and maybe bring it to regions of historic significance or to places where the NBA doesn’t touch, and to make it a pre holiday celebration of basketball all fits well.

Look, no one does “non events to events” better than the NFL. The schedule release, the Combine and the like have now become fan and media and social engagement events and the NBA took that one step further. They created an event in the season where the players are engaged at a high level (and financially incented) and there is palpable interest, especially from a younger demo who craves a reason to engage in meaningful games at a period in the calendar where they weren’t focused on the NBA as much.

It all worked from a KPI standpoint. It made fans and brands care and brought attention at a time of year where the NBA was a distant second to the NFL.

Proof of concept with execution and many bells and whistles to generate interest, activation and relevance.  Let’s see where it goes, literally and figuratively.

 Now there’s something to raise a banner for.