2011 NBA Draft at Prudential Center — a good thing | Professional | NewJerseyNewsroom.com -- Your State. Your News.

BY JOE FAVORITO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

ON N.J. SPORTS MARKETING

Starting last night and into the weekend the football world, and the casual sports fan’s eyes, will follow three days of drafting, hype and hyperbole as the 2011 NFL Draft unfolds at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The three-day primetime event will draw numbers that most other sports would like to see for their live games, and the brand activation around the draft signals a transition from the end of one football season to a look ahead (barring a lockout) of a new season filled with hope and endless possibilities for every NFL club.

Not far behind the NFL extravaganza is the one-day original prime-time hoops special — the 2011 NBA Draft. While not as complex — only two rounds — but just as much a brand magnet, the NBA Draft will pull up its longtime roots at Madison Square Garden and venture across the river to the Prudential Center for the first time, the latest in what was a big spring of basketball at the Prudential Center, despite the Nets missing the playoffs. So why is holding the draft at the Prudential Center noteworthy or valuable to the arena and the surrounding area? And, can a one-day event like the NBA Draft have a lasting effect on hoops in Brick City? Maybe.

First and foremost, although the NBA Draft is one day, the buzz surrounding it lasts for a week leading up and through the completion of the two rounds. Media, many of whom may not have spent much time at the Prudential Center during the New Jersey Nets’ first transitional year in the arena, will be spending hours in the building, perhaps for the first time. They may drive or take the train or even stay in the area for the first time, and get to experience a little more of all the amenities the building has that they miss when covering a game. Then there are the fans. The most loyal hoops fans from all over the area will flock to the draft. They are sometimes not the highest per capita fans, but they are the most passionate. Again maybe they didn't see the Prudential Center because their primary hoops interests were elsewhere, but now they will come for a few hours, cheer and jeer loudly and have an experience that maybe they had never had before in Newark. That can lead not just to strong word of mouth, but also to a second look next season when the Nets are back for year two, or maybe that fan decides to venture across for a Seton Hall game, or maybe for a show. It is all because of the shared experience as a positive one, and gives The Rock a chance to lure in other fans for the first time.

Lastly there is the long-term effect of having elite hoops events in a building whose primary long-term tenant plays on the ice. The Nets will leave for Brooklyn at some point in the not too distant future, and for the Prudential Center to show that it can effectively host elite events — NBA, WNBA, NCAA — will help build its roster as a home, maybe for a third NBA team but definitely as a viable alternative for any elite basketball event that may seek a stop in the tri-state area, not just for a night, but as a repeat customer.

So while the sports world focuses on Radio City the next few days, some should look just a bit to the Southwest to the Prudential Center, where next month many more eyes will focus for another draft — one which has strong roots hard by the Passaic River and beyond.

Joe Favorito has over 24 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. Visit him at JoeFavorito.com.