Sports Media Report
The National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA) today announced the numbers for the first three months of the expansion and launch of Legends Media & Entertainment (LME), a multifaceted storytelling platform producing, distributing and quantifying the wide reaching stories of many of the NBA and WNBA’s biggest stars. In three months LME in both audio and video has drawn almost 600,000 views and listens, more than three times the combined numbers of audio and video around the players in the previous nine months. Viewers and listeners have come from over 20 countries, and have enjoyed content from some of the most unique storytellers in the history of professional basketball. Athletes First Partners represents the NBRPA in its marketing endeavors and is working on engaging with brands on the platform as well.
“Basketball is a team sport, and by unifying efforts under the LME brand, we have been able to start building an audience, and a destination that fans from around the world are enjoying,” said NBRPA President and CEO Scott Rochelle. “The first three months have shown that consistency is key, and now that the season is upon us, we are expecting the concept to continue to grow both in content and in audience with our players, some of the most identifiable and engaged athletes and personalities anywhere.”
The NBRPA represents over 1,000 former NBA and WNBA players, making it the largest agency of its kind in basketball. This has allowed for direct access to players for opportunities domestically and internationally. Some of the most popular segments to date have included sessions with hoist Trill Withers talking with Charles Barkley, Bill Walton, Grant Hill and many others. The content can be seen, and heard at https://www.legendsofbasketball.com/legendslive/
Some of the key unified elements of LME include:
Legends Magazine which debuted in 2018 and is the official publication for NBA and WNBA Legends. Produced quarterly, Legends Magazine has featured cover stories about NBRPA Director Caron Butler, Jerry Stackhouse, Elton Brand, Jamal Mashburn and “The Knuckleheads” – Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles. Each issue is delivered to all former players, active players, coaches, stakeholders, influencers and league officials worldwide.
Legends Studios also debuted in 2018 with the launch of original live-action and animated short videos and two podcasts, the All-Access Legends Podcast and On Deck with Scott Rochelle. In April 2020, Legends Live, a weekly web series broadcasted to multiple social media platforms featuring live conversations with NBA and WNBA Legends, was added to the Legends Studios portfolio. In addition to 32 standard episodes, Legends Live also covered the 2020 WNBA Draft and ESPN’s The Last Dance with live commentary from Legends. Last week, media personality Tyler Johnson, aka Trill Withers joined the LME team as host of Legends Live, where he will spend time with many of the game’s most successful and dynamic personalities and business people. Johnson will also be a key contributor to Legends Magazine, the All-Access Legends Podcast and the NBRPA’s social media strategy and content.
To follow along with LME content from the NBRPA, find them on social media at @NBAalumni on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch or on Facebook at NBA Alumni.
