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The Milwaukee Bucks were down 2-0 in last year’s NBA Finals when they secured a deal that would make NBA history — of a sort. And it wasn’t about the team’s first NBA championship in 50 years.
The Bucks became one of the first teams to sell their championship court to NBALab for use in its NBA Reclaimed program, which recycles “retired” NBA courts into everything from cufflinks to furniture. All products are being sold with documentation that they were part of the Fiserv Forum hardwood on which the Bucks won the NBA title, including a certificate of authenticity supported by an NBA hologram sticker.
By league strictures, that championship court had more years left. But the Bucks realized the opportunity at a time when “fan engagement” and “authenticity” are among the industry’s most discussed topics.
“With the right team and the right timing, the court you won on is something even casual fans want a piece of,” said Bucks President Peter Feigin. “It was and is still a great program, but what really impressed me was the number of orders we got from outside the U.S.”
With help of licensee Artsman, the 7,500-square-foot Fiserv Forum court was disassembled and packed into an 18-wheeler. Those 225 panels were shipped to Artsman’s Cincinnati warehouse and within 90 days, products were being manufactured and at retail in time to meet holiday demand. Eventually, there were more than 30 SKUs using the Fiserv floor, including bottle openers ($100), lapel pins ($50) and frames (up to $450).
The Bucks topped off their Reclaimed program by giving small pieces of the court to 10,000 fans at a game in November. Some were listed on eBay for as much as $75 last week.
“Our idea is that every court tells a story,” said NBALab Chief Commercial Officer Eric Perugini, who spearheads NBA Reclaimed. “What we wanted to do differently is not just create collectibles, but products people will live with for a long time, like bottle openers and cuff links.”
Even before those general market items were made, particular pieces of the court that could be identified as where memorable Finals moments occurred were cut up and sold as premium “Cool Shot” series, framed with a photo of that highlight.
Sponsors bought their share, with Fiserv grabbing its floor logo to display in a new office and buying cuff links and pins made from the floor to reward employees. MolsonCoors had branded bottle openers made.
When NBALab was first approached by the league around 2½ years ago, the original idea was something self-liquidating — finding a way for some teams to pay for replacing their courts, a once-a-decade chore that can cost as much as $225,000.
Thus far, the Bucks project has been a resounding success. Less than half the championship court has been used for licensed products and it’s yielded more than $500,000 in revenue.
As this season progresses to the Finals, NBALab is in contact with the semifinalists to see which courts are available, if any. As the Reclaimed program progresses, Perugini wants more one-of-a-kind items, like a table made from the NBA logo on the 2021 NBA All-Star Game court, recently auctioned for $16,000.
There’s lots of raw material for more. In storage are the courts from:
■ The 2016 NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers
■ The Staples Center on which Kobe Bryant won five titles
■ The Nets’ inaugural Brooklyn hardwood
■ The pandemic “bubble court,” and courts from some recent All-Star Games
Unusual items in the pipeline include wooden hang tags for championship apparel, phone cases fashioned from NBA hardwood, and collector sets. And what sports bar wouldn’t love to have a floor on which the local NBA team once played?
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