Well, that didn’t take long. A series of ads on the New York City subway system that made Knicks fans choose whether they were optimistic or pessimistic about the franchise will reportedly be taken down. According to Darren Rovell, Fox Sports 1, which is behind the stunt, didn’t think to get approval by the franchise before doing this.
A source said the Knicks, whose logos and players were used in the ad, did not approve the advertising and that it would be taken down by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“Today, FS1 featured statements on a New York City subway car intended to reflect the distinct emotions and opinions of passionate sports fans,” Fox said in a statement. “We regret the tone and are removing the content in its entirety.”
There were two sides to the ads. Optimistic Knicks fans got to see, among other things, a picture of Kristaps Porzingis with some text that said “Kristaps Porzingis is a unicorn sent back in time to show us how basketball will be played in the future.” You may be wondering how a unicorn can be sent back in time, and I do not have an answer.
Outside of the fact that those were silly, they weren’t especially bad. However, pessimist Knicks fans got on a car that included a picture of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Joakim Noah. Even worse, one of the seats said “Nothing will change until Dolan sells the team,” a reference to owner James Dolan, who was so mad that he reportedly called up 21st Century Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch to complain.
Basically anyone could have seen all of this coming. Unfortunately for FS1, it is safe to assume they probably fired all of the people who would have mentioned that this was a terrible idea during their pivot to video.
(Via ESPN)
