@timelesssports_ I remember this 2-page ad used to always be on the inside of a magazine cover
And I always had a VHS tape ready for the 11PM SportsCenter
Remember when HBO made the best basketball show of all time about the Showtime Lakers with the best casting you’ve ever seen and Adrian Brody as Pat Riley and they just fucking canceled it
David Stern’s NBA was a marketing machine. He used league marketing partners to set the stage for the stories that mattered that season. Players were willing participants (everyone loved off the court $). In this era, a lot of the players that matter don’t care about this stuff because on-court salaries are insane now. Add that with all the attention they get on social media and there aren’t that many stars that want to sit at a commercial shoot for 6-8 hours for what’s not that much compared to what they make for their time on the court.