Wade’s Playoff Shoe; NBA Attendance Record
Heat guard Dwyane Wade will kick of this year’s playoffs on Saturday against the Chicago Bulls in a new version of his Wade 2.0.
The limited edition Converse shoe is black with gold accents. It includes an embossed “Z” for his son Zaire and a repeating “W” pattern. Wade’s signature is on a patch behind the tongue. The shoe will be available at retail April 25.
NBA RECORD
The NBA has broken another attendance record this season, for the third consecutive year.
The league drew a total of 21.8 million fans up 1.13 percent from 21.6 million last year. It also recorded 600 sellouts up 27 percent from the 471 in 2005-06. The Heat saw average attendance drop slightly (1.13 percent) from 19,954 a game in 2005-06 to 19,725 this past season.
Scott O'Neil, NBA senior vice president of team marketing and business operations, attributes the increase to exciting games and skilled, popular players, such as the Heat’s Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal.
“This truly is the golden era of the NBA,” O’Neil said. “The fans are speaking with themselves coming to our games. That’s our best barometer ... The fans seem to be responding.”
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
