As long as we're on the subject of Wicked, here's a little excerpt from my 2022 book. It's a story from an alternate reality.
__________________________________________
Travel back in time with me to the year 1984. Imagine you are the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Don’t worry. You don’t have to be an expert about basketball or know much at all about it to play along here.
It’s 1984, and your league is on a roll. It wasn’t always this way. In fact, there were some moments in the 1970s when it looked like the league might not make it at all. Things got really bad. A rival league innovated its way to success. In the end, the NBA had to absorb its rival's top teams and players and even copy some of its new rules. The three-point shot, for example, was added to the rulebook.
Even with that, interest was lukewarm. Believe it or not, the NBA Finals games weren’t always broadcast live. As late as 1981, if you were watching the NBA championship, you were probably watching it on a tape delay.
Then something wonderful happened. Two guys named Magic Johnson and Larry Bird came into the league at the same time. They became the two best players in the league and formed a rivalry that was better and more exciting than anything before it. Interest in the game exploded. Basketball suddenly became cool in a whole new way. It even surpassed baseball in popularity and still had room to grow.
And now, in 1984, the gods have sent you yet another blessing: Michael Jordan. The rookie from the University of North Carolina brings talent and a style that’s unlike anything that came before. The man can fly! Under your leadership (and with a little luck), the NBA has gone from near-death to business nirvana.
And in the midst of this, your VP of Marketing comes to you with a provocative proposal. He sees the rise in interest, the fans flocking to the arenas where before they were half-empty. He sees the jerseys with player names on them adorning the backs of school kids and young adults alike. He can feel the value of the NBA brand rising by the day, and he wants to make sure that continues.
His proposal: stop putting the games on TV. If fans can see professional basketball on TV, why would they come to the games? If they can flip a switch and get their NBA fix, they’ll value it less. “It’s basic supply and demand,” he says. “If we create too much supply, the price people are willing to pay will drop. They won’t value the true basketball experience, which is in the arena, if they can see it at home. They won’t pay for tickets. They’ll settle for the lesser but cheaper thing, and our business will stop growing.”
____________________________________
Football and the rest of sports got this right. The rest of the live business is stuck in this less-than-stellar timeline.
https://a.co/d/1RPtewn
General Manager | Mexico, US & Canada | Internationally awarded marcom agency
4 个月Great job Richard Gibson & team!, Congrats!