Why Basketball Players Are The Most Marketable Athletes

NBA Players, Fans
Enjoy Closeness Other
Leagues Don't Have

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

I read an interesting note in the current edition of ESPN: The Magazine Saturday morning.

The introduction to Chris Broussard's NBA preview story described the Association as "the league that trumps all others in producing larger-than-life superstars."

The statement was presented quite matter-of-factly, nearly buried oh-by-the-way style in the back half of the third sentence of a seven-sentence intro paragraph, as if there was no way the point could possibly be contradicted. I'd never really given much thought to the topic, but after doing so, I completely agree, and I think I know why NBA stars have so much better brand power than their baseball and football counterparts, and you might think it's ridiculous.

It's hardly scientific, and it comes not from the veteran sportswriter side of me but from the less established marketing corner of my brain. Ready? Here goes:

NBA players are half naked and much closer to the fans who pay the big dollars to see them. There are no sweaty high-fives between MLB players and fans after a home run. No chest bumps between NFL wideouts and spectators after a long touchdown reception.

Traditionalists love to wax about the romance of baseball, but let me tell you something: History, an element far more cherished in baseball than any other sport, is hardly synonymous with intimacy. What is intimate for Kobe Bryant, however, is being able to hear the courtside conversation between Jeremy Piven and his friends at the Staples Center. Whether it's Piven himself or his "Entourage" character Ari Gold — not much of a difference between the two if we're to believe the tabloids — there's certainly a closeness between fan and jock that lends itself to superior marketability.

Want more proof? Quick, name me a football or baseball fan as visible as Spike Lee.

In "The U," one of ESPN's best "30 For 30" productions yet, one of the Miami players interviewed said he started the trend of taking his helmet off after touchdowns because he wanted to be instantly recognizable like his Hurricane buddies of the hardwood. Recognizable for the ladies, he added.

A walk-off homer is hot and so is a last-second touchdown pass, but basketball players are regarded as superior athletes, and they just so happen to do their best work within a whisper of their audience. So whether your brand is targeting the busty groupies of sports or the masses in general, basketball players are definitely the way to go.