The new-look Brooklyn Nets are tapping into a new market. After the departures of Deron Williams and Jarrett Jack, the keys to the point guard spot are in the hands of new signee Jeremy Lin.
The Nets are looking into marketing the Taiwanese-American player and attracting the Chinese-American crowd towards the Barclays Center:
“I think he gives us an opportunity to tap into a new fan base,” said team CEO Brett Yomark to TenCent QQ Sports in Beijing. “Obviously, the Chinese-Americans throughout the tri-state area, there's over a million of Chinese-Americans that reside (there) — many of which reside in Brooklyn. I think over 200,000.
“So to the extent that he can afford us the opportunity to connect to a new fan base, we'll take advantage of that. And I think it will be great to bring a new fan base into the the Barclays Center this upcoming season.”
Marketing towards Asian crowds has been a popular strategy for the NBA, starting with the “Basketball Without Borders” campaign that was brought abroad when Yao Ming and ZhiZhi Wang were a part of the league.
Lin has seen plenty of fan acclaim in his days with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets — both with a large Asian market.
But none of them were bigger than the “Linsanity” craze that took place in New York after Lin took over Knicks fans' hearts at a time when Carmelo Anthony was sidelined with injuries.
Yomark insists there is no intent to pull off a part two in Brooklyn:
“We're not looking to replicating Linsanity. I think what you have to do based on his arrival in Brooklyn, let whatever's going to happen, happen organically. We'll let the fans dictate that,” he added.
With the recent trademarking of “Brook-Lin” and “Brook-Linsanity,” we'll take his word with a grain of sea salt.
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