>As the Washington Wizards and Nike were collaborating two-plus years ago on a cherry blossom-themed pink City Edition jersey, the Wizards’ brain trust decided to think bigger: What if we had a matching court? What if the court were … pink?
>Teams were still reeling from the pandemic, when many had slashed budgets and furloughed employees. An extra $150,000 or so for an alternate court the Wizards might use 10 times a season was a tough sell — especially for a franchise that had never used more than one home-court floor in any season until unveiling its throwback bearded-wizard court last month.
>But the Wizards’ experience with last year’s City Edition uniforms — a blue- and red-striped take on their standard jersey — reinforced the need to expand the blossom look into a full-on franchise iconography takeover. They had no matching court last season. The jerseys alone did not have quite the “wow” impact the franchise had anticipated.
>”If you looked at [last year’s City Edition] next to the court, there was a disconnect,” says Hunter Lochmann, the chief marketing officer for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, parent company of the Wizards, the Washington Capitals of the NHL, and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. “You saw it and felt it.”
>That meant going all-in on a pink court. After dozens of tweaks and proposals — some wild, some more muted — the Wizards landed here, as first revealed exclusively today at ESPN.
(rest is behind a paywall. If anyone has access and can take a couple excerpts and summarize the rest)
Notorious_Beebs
I wish they would have leaned into the cherry blossom theme more and gone all out. Load the base boards up with cherry blossoms or make it resemble the tidal basin. Maybe use what Philly did with their city edition uniforms that incorporated Boathouse Row for the basin, and add cherry blossom trees? It would be nice if they were a bit more prevalent around mid court too.
That being said, I appreciate them trying to make some changes. The game day experience has been a lot better recently at Capital One Arena. It’s been more fun and energetic than years past at this point in the season.
3 Comments
Looks the same almost
>As the Washington Wizards and Nike were collaborating two-plus years ago on a cherry blossom-themed pink City Edition jersey, the Wizards’ brain trust decided to think bigger: What if we had a matching court? What if the court were … pink?
>Teams were still reeling from the pandemic, when many had slashed budgets and furloughed employees. An extra $150,000 or so for an alternate court the Wizards might use 10 times a season was a tough sell — especially for a franchise that had never used more than one home-court floor in any season until unveiling its throwback bearded-wizard court last month.
>But the Wizards’ experience with last year’s City Edition uniforms — a blue- and red-striped take on their standard jersey — reinforced the need to expand the blossom look into a full-on franchise iconography takeover. They had no matching court last season. The jerseys alone did not have quite the “wow” impact the franchise had anticipated.
>”If you looked at [last year’s City Edition] next to the court, there was a disconnect,” says Hunter Lochmann, the chief marketing officer for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, parent company of the Wizards, the Washington Capitals of the NHL, and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. “You saw it and felt it.”
>That meant going all-in on a pink court. After dozens of tweaks and proposals — some wild, some more muted — the Wizards landed here, as first revealed exclusively today at ESPN.
(rest is behind a paywall. If anyone has access and can take a couple excerpts and summarize the rest)
I wish they would have leaned into the cherry blossom theme more and gone all out. Load the base boards up with cherry blossoms or make it resemble the tidal basin. Maybe use what Philly did with their city edition uniforms that incorporated Boathouse Row for the basin, and add cherry blossom trees? It would be nice if they were a bit more prevalent around mid court too.
That being said, I appreciate them trying to make some changes. The game day experience has been a lot better recently at Capital One Arena. It’s been more fun and energetic than years past at this point in the season.