HEAT INDULGE IN ‘VICE’
What happens when marketing campaign meets NBA season, when pastels color a season?
Welcome to the “Vice” collection uniforms the Miami Heat will be wearing for 15 games, including 11 at home, starting with the Sacramento Kings’ Thursday visit to American-Airlines Arena.
According to the Heat, the theme is: “Vice, a city trapped in time with buildings and boardwalks bathed in neon. A glitch in reality. The future as imagined in 1988.” As in the Heat’s inaugural season in 1988-89. As in Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs and the South Florida-based television show that ran from 1984 to 1990. In the Heat’s case, as in: Pink. Black. Powder blue.
“The Vice uniform is our ode to the City of Miami, its distinctive history, its iconic place in the annals of popular culture,” said Michael McCullough, the Heat’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.
The special edition jerseys, which feature the original Miami Arena script across the chest, are part of the NBA’s overall Nike “City Edition” uniforms.
The Heat also announced that it has partnered with custom sneaker designer Dominic Chambrone, known as The Shoe Surgeon, to create a custom Vice Air Jordan 1 sneaker.
Only five pairs of the sneakers, on display at the arena’s Court Culture Studio Store, will be created. Heat fans will have a chance to win a pair through the rest of the season.