August 17, 2012 By EbenGregory
The Brooklyn Nets’ new-look black and white jerseys were reportedly disliked by the NBA due to the perception of African Americans wearing them as their attire on televised broadcasts.
According to a new report, the National Basketball Association intially objected to the look.
[Jay-Z] helped design the team logos and choose the team’s stark black-and-white color scheme, and personally appealed to National Basketball Association officials to drop their objections to it (the N.B.A., according to a person with knowledge of the discussion, thought that African-American athletes did not look good on TV in black, an assertion that a league spokesman adamantly denied). He counseled arena executives on what kind of music to play during games. (“Less Jersey,” he urged, pushing niche artists like Santigold over old favorites like Bon Jovi.) He even coached them on how to screen patrons for weapons without appearing too heavy-handed. (“Be mindful,” he advised oracularly, “and be sensitive.”)
The same report also claimed Jay only shares one-fifteenth of one percent ownership in the team.
Yesterday, The New York Times published an article highlighting all the things that Jay-Z has done to build the Brooklyn Nets brand after purchasing a minority stake in the franchise. Since Hov put down $1 million for the team nine years ago, the Nets have gone through a lot of downs, very few ups and a great amount of change. Still, Jay and his one-fifteenth of one percent ownership of the team (yeah, you read that correctly), have played an important role in nearly every facet of the Nets evolution from New Jersey to Brooklyn. Overall, the article is informative and interesting but there is one little tidbit of information that seemingly goes unnoticed.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Friday, August 17th 2012 at 9:11AM
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