Martin Luther King Day, a holiday that has become an institution on NBA floors
This Monday, January 17, 2022, the United States will be on vacation. But not the NBA. Far from there. Any particular reason for this? It's Martin Luther King Day, which could be summed up as a day off at Uncle Sam's, but it goes much further than that. In the biggest basketball league in the world, "MLK Day" has become an institution. Just like the All-Star Game and the Christmas games, just that.
If Monday is the worst day of the week for many people, it is not necessarily so for all. Indeed, when the third Monday of January approaches, it is even quite the opposite on the NBA floors.
A long way to MLK Day
As its name suggests, MLK Day, a public holiday, honors Martin Luther King's fight for the American civil rights movement and for peace. Twenty-four hours to put social issues back on the table, such as civil rights and equal justice. However, the path was long and chaotic to achieve this meeting.
In 1968, in a country shocked by the assassination of Martin Luther King on April 4 in Memphis, a Democratic representative takes the lead. John Conyers introduces a bill in Congress to make the pastor's birthday a national holiday. The proposal was born in 1970, but unfortunately the bellows fell fairly quickly.
It was not until 1976, and the election of Jimmy Carter as President of the United States, that the MLK Day project came to the surface. But once again, the bellows falls. Which team will take over? It is that of the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta, directed by Coretta Scott King, the pastor's wife. Pushing with the general public, the MLK Center will see its message fall in the right ear, and not a little moreover … since it is that of Stevie Wonder.
On MLK's 1979 birthday, the Motown legend invites his audience to consider the day a real holiday. Even better, he is pushing his fans to write to Congress asking to pass the Conyers bill. Bob Marley and Michael Jackson, to name a few, joined the cause. The movement was immense and punctuated by Stevie Wonder when he released Happy Birthday in 1980. The song became a worldwide hit and a true symbol of the campaign.
A year later, a few days before the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the new American president, a procession of 100,000 people arrived at the National Mall in Washington to pay tribute to Martin Luther King during the Rally for Peace. Their request is clear: "we want our MLK Day". A petition gathers six million signatures and will bend Reagan two years later, in November 1983. It's good, we're there. Congress votes by majority (338 to 90), and the day off is officially in place on January 20, 1986.
The NBA and David Stern, front-runners in sports activism
While several major leagues have graced the landscape of American sport for decades, none rivals the NBA in terms of activism. And in the fight against social inequalities? It's basketball that leads the dance. If the first truly African-American figure who broke down social barriers was Jackie Robinson, the first black player to evolve among the baseball pros in the 1940s, the NBA is advancing rapidly and relentlessly with Bill Russell, the legend of the Boston Celtics 11 times NBA champion (all-time high), leading.
First boycotts of NBA games. First black athletes gathered in a single pro team. First black coaches. First black superstars to market around. The League is far ahead of its sisters in American football (NFL), baseball (MLB) and hockey (NHL) in this area. However, it will experience a slack in the 1970s, puritanical and divided America finding this League "too black".
David Stern, who recovered the keys to the NBA in 1984 as a commissionaire, will then ensure that his league is inclusive above all, on the grounds as in its offices. A striking example related to MLK Day? While the Governor of Arizona objected to the barely instituted day off, Stern decided to cancel all events in Phoenix until 1992, even rejecting the city's bid to host the 1994 All-Star Game. Sorry, none of that with us. Even the annual managers' meeting, which used to take place in Arizona, was moved because of the controversy around MLK Day. The League boss decides to hit hard, always harder.
A member of the King Federal Holiday Commission, Stern ensures that all NBA offices are closed on MLK Day and that games take place that night, in order to spread positive and inclusive messages throughout the country. He will then have a brilliant idea: to institutionalize this day as a major event of the American calendar, following the following diagram. If National Day (July 4) is for the baseball bat, and Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November) is for oval ball lovers, then MLK Day will be for the orange ball.
"Sport there is hyper politicized, unlike what we see in France", explains Rémi Reverchon, presenter and commentator on beIN Sports. We know that the NFL is an ultra-Republican league. The NBA is failing that and wants to be hyper progressive, democratic. Especially after what happened recently in Minneapolis with (the death of) George Floyd, and with Jacob Blake in Kenosha. The NBA is therefore more than ever emphasizing this date. It puts the focus on the city of Memphis with a no matter what match there on MLK Day because that's where he was murdered, at the Lorraine Motel."
Quickly, the NBA sees its global policy and its approach to MLK Day intersect. In a League welcoming more and more African-American players, David Stern plays on symbols, communication and inclusion. Example ? The Grizzlies, first settled in Vancouver, landed in Memphis in 2001. The NBA will then ensure that two cities systematically play on MLK Day: Atlanta, birthplace of Martin Luther King, and Memphis, where the pastor died. .
It is in Memphis that we find the National Civil Rights Museum dedicated to the civil rights movement, and the NBA will highlight it each year with the Grizzlies, the franchise of the city of Tennessee. Powerful communication campaigns will follow, whether in the form of videos, via social networks, the courts and the jerseys, which will cement a little more the place of MLK Day in the calendar. In every American household, the third Monday in January is synonymous with the NBA. The project set up by David Stern worked.
Beautiful messages, but only?
Always well placed on a wire between beautiful values and beautiful dollars, the NBA will also juggle with its audience and its needs to make this third Monday of January an unmissable event. For fans, for players, and for brands.
On the fan side, what more could you ask for than a real basketball marathon in the middle of the season? Monday, January 17, 12 matches will be played between 6:30 p.m. and 7 a.m. French time. A day for Americans but also for the other major markets, Europe and China in the lead, who can watch their stars at convenient times. In January 2020, a record number of 14 games had been played, including the mythical opposition Celtics - Lakers and the 61 points scored by Damian Lillard (Portland) against the Golden State Warriors (MLK Day record).
And the fans rejoice, because when we look at the other marathon nights of the season, December 25 (5 games), and the first weekend of the playoffs (4 games) immediately come to mind. Otherwise ? It's the routine. MLK Day is therefore an exceptional event that quickly took root in the minds of basketball enthusiasts, just like the All-Star Game.
"Basically, MLK Day was supposed to be a night like any other (on beIN Sports) with two games broadcast, but it was our desire to go knock on the door of the NBA and tell them 'let's mark the occasion'. We told them that we would like to have a special evening and broadcast all the matches that evening, and we succeeded. Today we are going to do our tenth MLK Day, everyone will be on deck, "says Rémi Réverchon
On the player side, in the social context that we know in the United States, the NBA extends its microphone to its athletes, the large majority of whom are African-Americans (74% in 2020 according to Statista). Fifty years after the assassination of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner, the League launched the "NBA Voices" program in January 2018 to fight against social injustice, promote inclusion, equality and diversity.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade therefore come to give their voice and show the way to the youngest, in a country that really needs it after having recently seen George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and so many other African Americans be punished by prevailing social injustices. The NBA ensures that players, both retired and current, send the right message to future generations.
But all of that wouldn't go to the NBA if it didn't bring in a few dollars at the same time. On the brand side, between special shoes, t-shirts with messages worn by the players, special parquet floors and unique jerseys for the event, there is plenty to do. Exclusive editions of jerseys created for certain franchises are snapping up like hot cakes, to the delight of Adam Silver, who took over from David Stern in 2014.
Audiences are also a hit with nearly two million viewers on average in 2021 for the major MLK posters. The recipe is therefore a success on all levels, in the image conveyed, the highlighting of the athletes, the cherished values and the dollars brought in.
Bastien FontanieuDirector of publication @TrashTalk_fr
