Australian-based food company Sanitarium is aiming to capitalise on the growing popularity of the NBA (National Basketball Association) in Australia, as well as the cult status of Australian player Matthew Dellavedova in Cleveland, by establishing a new partnership with Dellavedova’s current team the Cleveland Cavaliers. The agreement will see Sanitarium’s liquid breakfast product, UP&GO, become the official breakfast partner of the Cavaliers.
As well as Dellavedova, the Cavaliers can also boast another Australian of sorts in All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. Irving is Australian born and has dual Australian-United States citizenship although chooses to represent the United States for national duties such as the Olympics. LeBron James, arguably the best and most famous basketball player in the world also plays for the Cavaliers. Having LeBron James on your basketball team instantly means that your games will have a very high viewing audience.
As part of the agreement the Cavaliers will be hosting an Australia day game at their home court, the Quicken Loans Arena, on Monday January 25th versus the Minnesota Timberwolves (viewable live on January 26th in Australia due to the time difference). The game is set to be a celebration of all things Australian and will include playing the Australian national anthem as well as the Cavaliers wearing gold uniforms in honour of the green and gold worn by many Australian national sporting teams.
Sanitarium will also receive rights and benefits in Cleveland on their team channels and will also be major sponsor of a 20 minute pregame show on Cavs.com called the “UP&GO Cavaliers Breakfast Show”. The partnership between Sanitarium and the Cleveland Cavaliers has been seen one of the first of its kind in the NBA as major sponsorship deal from outside of the United States.
“As the Cavaliers popularity continues to grow, the Cavaliers are proud to be establishing these types of partnerships,” said Len Komoroski, Cavaliers CEO. “From Cleveland to Australia, we are thrilled to dedicate a game to a country with a fan base that loves Cavs basketball.” In actual fact, it is not just ‘Cavs basketball’ that Australians are in love with. Outside of the United States itself, Australia has the largest number of subscribers to the NBA’s live game streaming service, NBA League Pass.
Part of the NBA’s growing popularity in Australia could be down to the number of Australians playing in the league which currently stands at 8. There is also much hype around Australian college prospect Ben Simmons who many experts are already predicting will be taken as the number one pick in next year’s draft.
“To celebrate Australia Day really means a lot to me and my family and hopefully a lot of people back home in Australia," said Matthew Dellavedova. The Australia day game can be seen live on ESPN or NBA League Pass at 11am Eastern Time on Tuesday 26th January.
