ESPN and the NBA have been together as a team since 2003 and with ABC since 2006. ABC has been broadcasting NBA games since 1982. Since then ESPN have been one of the prime stations for showing NBA games. The days they are shown are: Sunday afternoon and evenings, Wednesday nights, and Friday nights. The games specifically start in January and goes throughout the playoffs.
Throughout the years NBA on ESPN has tried in other areas to make more money and get their product out there. The most famous and memorable of their TV ads is when the commentators go on a bus tour around the country with former and current players to all the cities, to cover every game.
SEGA in 1999 created a basketball video game and it went until 2005 when they lost their ownership. ESPN teamed up with SEGA to make the game called ‘ESPN NBA Basketball Game’, to improve the game. The game not only had the graphics of ESPN on it; it also had greater infusion of the ESPN brand in the game. The opening menu showed the ESPN studio and the same texts and fonts on any ESPN telecast. Also much of the audio reflected the sound you hear in ESPN basketball games.
In last year’s ESPN NBA preview they did something never done before, something completely out of the box. ESPN and the NBA on ESPN teamed up with a Marvel section of Disney to make the NBA stars superheroes. They were trying to appeal to a new type of sports fan. The comic book superheroes who along with current Marvel heroes who were going to be in the new ‘Avengers’ movies, were all featured on the cover and portrayed by NBA stars.
ESPN also has a deal with New Era hats for official ‘ESPN on NBA’ hats with the official logos and brand identity stitched into the hats. Currently they have a style with the map of the United States logo and a road sign with the logo of the team, with the ‘ESPN on NBA’ logo on the back of the hat.