This week’s top news in #SportsBiz includes Andrew Luck and his not-so-typical endorsement deal with Klipsch. Other news includes Rivalry Week seeing a major increase in ticket prices, FIFA and Brazil experiencing a tragedy and a setback, apron advertising in the NBA, and Walmart advertising with Thanksgiving day football. Get your #SportsBiz fix below. Sports…
Tag Archives | miami heat
What Good Sportsmanship Brings to a Fanbase
Two prominent and respected teams played in this year’s NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs – winners of three NBA Championships had three stars competing with a future hall of famer looking for his fourth – against the Miami Heat seeking their second NBA championship in a row. They, too, had three stars with arguably…
Your Social Media Guide to the NBA Finals
On Thursday, the 2013 NBA Finals kicked off, featuring the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat. Miami is looking for their second consecutive championship, while the Spurs will try and win their first title of the decade after winning three championships in the previous decade. As expected, social media was buzzing about Game 1 on…
Why LeBron James Could Be the Most Underpaid Athlete in Sports
Despite being one of the top 1% income earners in the world, one could make a case that LeBron James could actually be the most underpaid athlete in professional sports. James earns $16 million per season, the 13th biggest salary in the NBA. Which means that there are 12 players making more money than LeBron…
Marketability of Miami Heat Now That the Streak is Over
What happened to the bad guys?! The Miami Heat have lost. 27 W’s in a row, though. The 2nd longest regular season winning streak of all time. It doesn’t mean anything unless they win the title (which they will) but it sure would be a nice sidenote to this season to go along with the…
The NBA’s College team: The Indiana Pacers
Fanatics are Alive and Well in the NBA I feel that a lot of my friends who don’t watch the NBA like to give it a lot of flack. The common misconceptions that I hear range from “They don’t play defense in the regular season” to “The fans are boring” to “They are just all…
NBA vs. MBA: the collision of basketball and business
Guest Post submitted by Harrison Kratz The 2012 NBA Finals just ended with the Miami Heat capturing the title. HowToMBA.com decided to put their own spin on the NBA Finals to look at the broader picture of business and basketball. While the NBA may not be the most popular major sports league in the country, it is…
NBA Social Playoffs: And The Winner Is?
What if the NBA Championship wasn’t decided on the court, but rather from social media follower numbers? This infographic done by The Score, takes all on court performance out the window and shows who would win the NBA Championship if it was determined by social media. Here is the breakdown of the winner of the…
The New Teams in Town: Is South Florida Becoming a Sports Marketing Powerhouse?
The battle between small and big market franchises has peppered the landscape of professional leagues since the early days of the 1950s, when National League Baseball first made its exodus to the west, and even more recently during the NBA Lockout this past fall. Heightened mostly around the nearest CBA debate waiting to surface, the…
Do the Top Teams in the NBA Dominate on Facebook?
As of the NBA All Star Break on Monday February 27th the top 7 teams in the NBA looked like this from top to bottom. 1. Miami Heat 27-7 2. Oklahoma City Thunder (my favorite team just throwing it out there) 27-7 3. Chicago Bulls 27-8 4. San Antonio Spurs 24-10 5. LA Clippers (When was…
LeBron James Is Coming To Town
On July 8, 2010, LeBron James announced a decision – a decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent and join the Miami Heat for the next six seasons. Lebron has never made it a secret that he wants to win and win badly. Aren’t we all granted the freedom of choice to…
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.