ARTICLE: "Melo looking like a bargain for Nike" Anthony looks like a bargain for Nike http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nugg...2470822,00.html By Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News December 2, 2003 Nike founder Phil Knight has been called many things since starting his little shoe company in the Pacific Northwest. A pioneer. An innovator. A sweatshop owner. But a bargain hunter? At $18 million over the next six years, Denver Nuggets rookie Carmelo Anthony might be a steal for Nike when compared with the $90 million it will pay Cleveland Cavaliers rookie LeBron James. "It's much more likely that the cost-value ratio is going to be greatly in Carmelo Anthony's favor in the case of Nike," Dean Bonham, one of the nation's foremost sports-business authorities, said Monday. "That's simply because the cost going in was considerably less than LeBron, and the value appears to be pretty close to the same level." Bonham, CEO of The Bonham Group, a Denver-based sports marketing firm, based his opinion on the early performances of James and Anthony as well as their respective teams. Entering tonight's game against Cleveland, Anthony is averaging 17.4 points and 6.9 rebounds for a team off to its best start in nine years (10-6). James is averaging 17.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists for a team that has lost 13 of 17 games and appears headed back to the draft lottery. "It looks to me as though Carmelo Anthony is every bit the catalyst to the Nuggets that LeBron is to the Cavaliers," Bonham said. "The difference is the Nuggets have a considerably better record." In terms of drawing power, James is the clear leader on his hometown marquee. An average of 18,400 people have seen James play his first seven home games this season, up drmatically from the 11,104 spectators who attended Cleveland's first seven home games against teams that did not feature Michael Jordan or Shaquille O'Neal in 2002. By comparison, the Nuggets are drawing 16,133 a game this year, up about 3,100 a game from a season ago. The raw consumer numbers help illustrate why Nike was happy to pay James five times more money to peddle the Swoosh. "Anybody that is presumptuous enough to second guess Nike shouldn't be in this business," Bonham said. "Nike is the most ubiquitous brand in the world today. Nike knows how to do it, and they know who to do it with." That being said, Bonham expects Anthony and James to run neck-and-neck in newspaper headlines and television highlights throughout the season. "This is not - I repeat, not - going to be the year of LeBron James," he said. "This is going to be the year of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. That's a good thing." Phil Knight surely would agree.
