NBA FANS ENROLLING AT BASKETBALL U
By Adnews Staff
Toronto-based NBA Canada, Inc. is launching two new television commercials this weekend to drive fans to Basketball U, an online school about the sport located at NBA.com. Basketball U was launched by the Toronto Raptors, Vancouver Grizzlies and the NBA. Features of the online resource include a library of archives and definitions, an Undergraduate section with basic information for new fans and a Masters section for educated fans looking to learn more. The two 30-second spots will run on TSN and CTV during NBA All-Star 2001 programming. The spots are designed to take a tongue-in-cheek look at terms used in different sports including the hockey term "Slap Shot", which is superimposed over footage of an NBA player blocking a shot with a slap of his hand. The baseball term "Grand slam" is also featured accompanied with a rim-rattling dunk. The spots created by Encore Encore Strategic Marketing of Toronto, will run throughout the remainder of the NBA regular season, as well as during the NBA playoffs and the finals taking place in June. The spots will also be seen in-arena at Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies home games.