Michael Jordan return fails to inspire advertisers

Michael Jordan's leap back into NBA basketball has failed to fire up advertisers just yet, as many wait on the sidelines to see if the new Jordan is as good as the old one, analysts said on Wednesday.

Media buyers and sports consultants said Jordan's decision to come back and play for the Washington Wizards, a team which he partly owns, should help jump-start the struggling team and perhaps draw some marginal fans into the sport.

But they doubted the man who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships can compete with the economy, where spending on advertising has plummeted this year as companies cut costs amid the business slowdown.

"It's a positive story, and we need positive stories right now," said Neal Pilson of TV sports consulting company Pilson Communications. "But the problems right now are not ratings but the economy. I'm not sure if even Michael Jordan is big enough to turn the economy around."

Indeed, many advertisers who felt the once-high-flying NBA was overpriced in its Jordan-esque heyday will feel the same way even after the 38-year-old superstar comes back, said Paul Schulman, president in the New York office of media buying firm Advanswers PHD.

"It'll certainly turn the heads of some advertisers toward the NBA," said Schulman, whose clients include Energizer and the Gap, none of which advertise in the NBA. "But the economy is such and there is so little money out there that I don't know if it's going to matter immediately."

He said the infrequent watchers of professional basketball may be more inclined to watch a little more, but that the change in ratings -- on which ad rates are based -- would likely be minor to negligible in the near term.

"This doesn't get the hard-core NBA viewer to watch as a result of Jordan," he said. "It'll get the light viewers -- those who normally don't watch the NBA until we get to the finals of the playoffs each year."

In anticipation of just such a ratings bounce, NBC, which has the network broadcast contract for NBA basketball through the end of the upcoming season, is working to get some Wizards games into its lineup, said spokesman Kevin Sullivan.

Before the Jordan announcement, the network had no plans to televise any games featuring the struggling team, he added.

"It's obviously exciting news because you'll get to see the greatest player of all time match up against a new generation of stars," Sullivan said. "We'll be meeting with the league in the next week and a half to determine what adjustments we can make to the schedule to get the Wizards on."

Meanwhile, fans and advertisers will wait on the sidelines to see if Jordan can show some of his old magic -- a factor that will likely determine if he can really increase the sport's popularity and attract viewers' attention.

"The sport is going to benefit initially," said Bob Flood, director of media consulting firm National Electronic Media. "But how competitive he and his team are will dictate how that affects the ratings and what potential companies step up to him to endorse their products."