By Ed Sherman
It isn't often that I am right, so I'm going to brag a bit about my prediction this summer that the delayed-NBA season would begin on Christmas Day.
Fans found an early holiday gift when they woke on Saturday morning. During the wee hours, the NBA lockout was settled. Judging from the way Commissioner David Stern looked at the 3 a.m. press conference, I'm betting he hasn't seen that time of day in about 50 years.
It made sense for the NBA to get it done in order to open the season on Christmas Day. It provides the league with the ideal platform to revive itself after an off-season of discord.
A tripleheader of high-profile games (Celtics-Knicks, Heat-Mavericks, Bulls-Lakers) is the perfect menu for a day when the NBA will have the stage mostly to itself. Because Christmas falls on a Sunday, the NFL is playing most of its games on that Saturday.
The day will offer a special Christmas feast for Chicago sports fans: The only NFL offering that Sunday is a prime-time Bears-Green Bay game. Derrick Rose in L.A. followed by Brian Urlacher and the gang in the "Frozen Tundra" — that's a great double bill.
Kicking off the NBA season on a random Tuesday night wouldn't have the same dramatic effect. A Christmas Day start gives the league the chance to regain some of the momentum it lost during the lockout. Taking a pass on that kind of marketing opportunity would have been a huge loss.
Actually, I think any damage from the early-season cancellations will be minimal. Aside from the hardcore hardwood devotees, most sports fans don't even notice the NBA until Christmas Day.
The NBA season is back-loaded, with the emphasis on the long playoff marathon. A 66-game schedule will be sufficient to satisfy most appetites.
I tried to get some reaction from the Bulls, but nobody can talk until the deal is officially ratified by all parties. However, I'm fairly sure the loud roar that echoed throughout the area on Saturday night came from Bulls radio play-by-play voice Chuck Swirsky, who had gone way beyond the antsy stage while praying for the lockout to end.
To gauge the impact, I checked in with marketing expert Jim Andrews, senior vice-president of content strategy for Chicago-based IEG. Mr. Andrews also believes the league should emerge relatively unscathed.
Will there be a fan backlash?
Mr. Andrews: I don't expect much fan backlash. Most of the season has been salvaged and sports fans are notoriously forgiving.
How important is it that the NBA will kick off its season on Christmas Day as opposed to a generic weekday?
It's a smart move to begin the season on Dec. 25. That has always been a big TV day for the NBA, featuring marquee matchups like the Bulls-Lakers. The fact that it will now mark the season tipoff just adds to the buzz around the return of play, much more than would a Minnesota-Sacramento game on a Wednesday night
What will be the likely sponsor impact? With the uncertainty of whether there would be a season, did sponsors move their dollars elsewhere?
Since they will play most of the season — and the most important part, the playoffs — sponsor impact will be limited. Most sponsor promotional activity takes place beginning after the holidays and builds through the All-Star Game and then the playoffs. It does not appear that many sponsors redeployed significant dollars they had planned for NBA activity. Certainly some sponsors will be entitled to some form of giveback for the lost exposure during the canceled games.
Going forward, will the NBA be able to regain the momentum it had after last year's finals?
Whether or not the league can regain the momentum it had after last season will really hinge on how teams and star players perform this season. If there are great on-court performances and good matchups and exciting games during the playoffs and finals, then the NBA should stand a very good chance of putting the labor unrest of the last few months completely behind it.