The shocking acquisition of Luka Doncic and a brilliant performance by venerable icon LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers are riding high.
Bulls of the week
Between the shocking acquisition of former Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic and a brilliant 42-point performance at the age of 40 by venerable icon LeBron James, it’s been a good week for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Show Time brand will only be revitalized with the new storylines that will come with King James sunset season(s) and the lift that Doncic will get by being part of the Lakers. The global upside will be interesting to watch since Doncic will be the first truly international player to headline the heritage brand that has featured icons such as Jerry West (the NBA logo silhouette), Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neil, LeBron and the legendary Kobe Bryant (who spent some of his younger years living in Italy). The latter was arguably the sport’s biggest global superstar behind only Michael Jordan — bigger in China, for example, than Yao Ming himself.
The blockbuster Doncic-Anthony Davis multiple player trade highlighted a busy NBA trade deadline week and was one of the few storylines that cut into the NFL’s domination of the past week’s lead-up to Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. After having averaged more than 50 million viewers in the United States for its two conference championship games two weeks ago and topping up at 4.5 million in Canada for the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Buffalo Bills, the NFL is on target for 110 million-plus American viewers for their pursuit of an historic Super Bowl era three-peat.
The Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, NFL, FOX Sports south of the border and sports betting houses, apparel merchandisers and food and beverage retailers and delivery houses such as Uber Eats will benefit the most, especially those paying $8 million US per 30-second spot to become part of the pop culture extravaganza that is Super Bowl television advertising. They will be joined by the likes of former LA Lakers head coach and current Miami Heat team president Pat Riley, who trademarked the “Three-peat” saying back in 1989 and will earn about $1 million in royalties if Kansas City prevails against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Other big winners this weekend include Kendrik Lamar, the Apple Music Half Time Show star attraction expected to perform for 120 million viewers on Sunday — all for less than $1,000 in minimum wages paid out to him and his performers. Lamar’s multi-million dollar payoff will come this fall when he’s on tour promoting his latest album, not to mention the brand value that will come from multiple video clips on social.
Bears of the week
It was a bear market for the Tampa Bay Rays and their on-again, off-again stadium project, punctuated by St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch essentially indicating that his Gulf Coast Florida city is ready to move on and wish the American League East franchise well. More and more, the Rays saga is looking like the Athletics, and that didn’t end well for the former Oakland franchise. It seems that the Rays have hit rock bottom on stadium futures, at least in central Florida. And you simply cannot build a baseball business without ballpark certainty.
Yet there are no words to describe the biggest losers in the business of sport in North America this week: The now post-Doncic Dallas Mavericks. They will still be a western conference force with Davis, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving doing their bidding. Yet the trade and the way it was sprung on people like head coach Jason Kidd and now minority owner Mark Cuban was inexplicable, as was the single-team strategy built entirely around discussions with the Lakers. It will be a case study in questionable basketball operations, star marketing and brand management for decades to come.