We’ve seen people making big mistakes in history, and the NBA isn’t the exception to that. The league has also seen a lot of trolling since forever, and some of them were taken to the next level.
Over a decade ago, a G League team tried to pull off a hoax and things backfired quickly, as fans didn’t understand the meaning of their joke (or that they were part of a joke even) and forced them to pay a lot of money.
It was the year 2009 and the Utah Jazz’s G League team, the Utah Flash, sent a Michael Jordan lookalike to announce he would play against Bryon Russell in a charity game. Knowing all the history between these two, a lot of people were ready to watch them relive their 90s duels. But, they didn’t know that the real Michael wouldn’t be there and a lot of people attended the event only to be disappointed not to see the six-time NBA champion.
The team admitted it was a hoax at the end, but they claimed that they thought people would realize it before the event took place.
Via AP:
An NBA Development League team will refund the ticket prices to the thousands of fans who went to a Utah Flash game and expected Michael Jordan to play in a charity exhibition at halftime.
A Jordan lookalike instead was introduced to face former Utah Jazz guard Bryon Russell in a promotional fiasco that will cost Flash owner Brandt Andersen.
Andersen said he made a legitimate offer, albeit a long shot, to get Jordan to the Flash’s home opener, but took it too far by sending the Jordan lookalike around town Monday and building a buzz that the event really was going to happen.
“We’re the first ones to say it was not in good taste in the end,” Andersen said Tuesday night. “It just kind of blew up in our faces. We just didn’t execute it well.”
Andersen acknowledged sending the lookalike around town Monday, when supposed “Jordan” sightings and an Internet video of the impostor eating at a local restaurant created buzz that Jordan really was in town. More than 7,500 fans showed up hoping to see Jordan play 1-on-1 against Russell.
“People who had tickets and were hoping he would be there, their expectations got shifted to ‘we think he’s here,” Andersen said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVBD9jYxhjg
That hoax cost this team a lot of money for these fans, who surely were ready to see Michael Jordan, even if it was for yelling at him, but the Utah Flash had different plans for them. Things got out of control and fans were the only losers here.
