Matthew Dowd, Who Helped Bush Win, Hired to Find New NBA Fans

Bloomberg.com
May 31, 2005

May 31 (Bloomberg) -- The National Basketball Association wants Matthew Dowd to do for the league what he did for George W. Bush.

The NBA hired the 44-year-old Dowd, who assisted in shaping the U.S. president's message and strategy in his successful re- election campaign last year, to help the league burnish its image and reach new customers.

``I've given the NBA some strategic advice,'' Dowd, one of four founding partners in Austin, Texas-based ViaNovo, a firm that develops strategies for businesses, said in a telephone interview on May 25. ``I told them what they needed to do.''

The NBA is looking for Dowd's expertise in research to help repair its reputation among both fans and partners. The league was tarnished by the November brawl between Indiana Pacers players and fans in Detroit. TV ratings for NBA games slumped on Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and ABC, as well as Time Warner Inc.'s Turner Network Television cable channel. Sales of licensed apparel sank about 30 percent this year, in part because of the declining popularity of old-style jerseys.

During the political campaign, Dowd wrote detailed polling memos that were sent to party activists and journalists to counteract perceptions of drift or decline in Bush's political fortunes. For the NBA, he has worked on how to best draw information from focus groups composed of people who said they weren't basketball fans, NBA Entertainment President Adam Silver said in an interview.

"We want to understand what messaging will best get to our potential viewers," Commissioner David Stern said in an interview on May 24 in Secaucus, New Jersey.

After the Brawl

The focus groups were conducted in March and April, about three months after the brawl that resulted in five Pacers players being charged with misdemeanor assault. Dowd said he was approached by league executives after speaking at an NBA- sponsored technology conference prior to February's All-Star Game in Denver.

TV ratings, excluding playoff games, fell 4 percent on ABC, 8 percent on ESPN and 7 percent on TNT. Playoff ratings, hurt in part by the absence of the Los Angeles Lakers, are down even more: 30 percent on ABC, with a 4 percent drop on the other networks. The brawl didn't hurt regular-season attendance, which set a record this season.

The networks pay a combined $4.6 billion for six seasons of broadcast rights.

A number of participants in the focus groups said they regarded NBA players as ``thugs,'' two people briefed on the results said on the condition of anonymity.

Dowd declined to discuss terms of his contract and specifics of the research, citing his agreement with the league.

NBA Cities

Stern said he hadn't reviewed the results, although he added that people in cities where the league has teams had a better opinion of NBA players.

``If they were in NBA markets it was pretty good,'' Stern said. ``If it was out of NBA markets, they weren't watching our game much and only knew what they read.''

Billy Hunter, executive director of the union that represents NBA players, has said there's a ``disconnect'' between sponsors and fans, most of which are white, and players, 75 percent of whom are black. He didn't return a message left at his office in New York seeking comment on the results of the focus groups.

The NBA, more than any other sports league, has embraced the ``hip-hop'' culture. Stern is fond of saying the NBA has gone ``from afros to cornrows,'' referring to the hairstyle made popular by Philadelphia guard Allen Iverson, a former NBA Most Valuable Player. Recording artists have bought stakes in teams: Usher in Cleveland; Jay-Z in New Jersey; and Nelly in Charlotte.

Retired Players

The fans in the focus groups had a more positive image of past players, the people said. Retired players such as Bill Russell and George Gervin are central to the league's current marketing campaign.

The NBA's slogan for the championship series is, ``Where Legends are Born.'' One particular TV commercial and print campaign focuses on side-by-side photos of Hall-of-Famers Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as kids.

``The game has changed dramatically,'' Mel Davis, executive director of the retired players association, said in a telephone interview from New York. ``We don't have tattoos. We dress differently. We don't have cornrows. That's not a slap to current players. It's just a sign of the times.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 31, 2005 00:02 EDT