Progress? Nets no longer at the bottom in social media rankings

In the latest Sports Business Journal NBA social media rankings, the Brooklyn Nets no longer hold bottom ground in the recent MVPindex rankings.

They’re next to last. The Grizzlies are in the 30th spot. Such is progress for a team that last year was also last in local TV ratings and 28th in home attendance.

The MVPindex is a social media valuation that tracks and measures the overall
“value” across sports and entertainment on social media, specifically Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, and YouTube. At the top, no surprise, are the Warriors, followed by the Cavaliers, Lakers, Celtics and Rockets. We see a trend here: you win, you gain.

In fact, the last time the Nets made the playoffs, in 2015, Complex ranked the Nets seventh in use of social media among the NBA’s 30 teams.

Moreover, the Nets have a total of 62 corporate sponsors heading into the 2018-19 season, but out of those 62 sponsors, Nike and Verizon are the only two sponsors that were ranked in the top 10 of the most valuable in the NBA. Nike is the clear leader in the rankings while Verizon is ranked seventh.

As for players, Sports Business Journal only provided top 10 lists for players and players who deliver the most value. No surprise, but none of the Nets made either list (Kyle Kuzma of the Lakers, taken with a Nets pick in 2017, is ranked fifth in players who delivered the most value.)

Moving on to the jersey sponsors, the Nets have Infor, the software solutions company, and have since 2017. According to Forbes, Infor pays the team $8 million per year for the jersey patch. Included in the deal is help for the Nets in a variety of business and basketball operations, with Infor involved in providing analytics and technology for everything from fan initiatives to player performance.

”This isn’t about sponsorship,” said Infor President Stephan Scholl last year. “It’s really about making them win more games with my name on their jerseys. That’s a great message for us and our customers.”

But Infor didn’t make SBJ’s top 10 list.

Despite all the low ratings, their international owners are still pushing the idea of the Nets —and Brooklyn— as a global brand. How successful that drive will be depends on a number of things, but it starts with winning ... and the Nets haven’t done a lot of that lately.

• SBJ Social Climbers: NBA - Sports Business Journal