It’s NBA Finals again, if you ever care. I am not a big basket ball fan, but I was fascinated by the business of NBA in recent years, especially when I saw the popularity of the basketball and NBA in China. If my memory is correct, I heard many stars including Kobe, Kevin Gannett and Shaq, visited China recently. The main reason for their trip: to promote shoes for Nike, Addidas, Li Ning (which Kobe, Kevin and Shaq are repective spokeperson).
This NBA Final, Nike finally got her wish: its No. 1. spoke person, LeBron James and his Cleveland team, is the Eastern Champion. Addidas is doing OK too, its star Tim Duncan, although much low key compared to James, is also in the finals. I believe Tony Paker and Manu Ginobli are also associated with Addidas too. One thing I notice is Nike and Coke will always sponsor the most famour player such as Michael Jordan, James and Liu Xiang (popular Chinese athelete). I believe those guys calculated the investment in marketing and the return too. Sometimes they did experience inccidents such as Kobe’s scandal a few years ago, in those cases they will quickly pull the plug.
The game one is about to begin in 10 minutes. If you don’t care about the shoes, there are other things or people to watch too, e.g. the iPhone commercial, or Tony Parker’s girl friend. So if you got a minute, turn your channel to ABC and enjoy the finals.