NBA To Celebrate Martin Luther King Holiday & Black History Month

The NBA will celebrate Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month with a multi-platform effort that will run through February.

On Monday’s Martin Luther King holiday, the network will air an inspirational “Dream Big” commercial spot (see below) featuring NBA Stars Chris Bosh that will run during the league’s nationally-televised games on ESPN, TNT and NBA TV, said league officials.  The nationally-televised games include the New York Knicks-Brooklyn Nets (ESPN); Portland Trailblazers-Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers-Golden State Warriors (TNT); and New Orleans Pelicans-Memphis Grizzlies (NBA TV.)

Additionally, all 20 teams playing on MLK Day will wear “Dream BIG” shooting shirts during their respective warm-ups, said the league.

The campaign will continue into Black History Month when the league unveils a special commemorative shooting shirt honoring four prominent African-Americans: Dr. King, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Bill Russell. Players from all 30 teams will wear the limited-edition shooting shirts for select games during the month of February, said league officials.

The new campaign, intended to reach a broad African-American audience, was developed in conjunction with GlobalHue, a leading U.S. full-service agency with multicultural expertise.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.