NBC Sports Turns NBA Stars into Superheroes for Second Season
NBC Sports is turning NBA stars into comic book superheroes for its second year of broadcasting NBA games. The limited campaign and activation celebrates the start of the regular season on NBC Sports and Peacock on October 20, featuring the first-ever American Express NBA Tip-Off triple-header.
The marketing team at NBC Sports worked immediately after the 2025-26 NBA Finals to come up with a way to generate hype for the new season. The idea of depicting athletes as comic book characters made it easy to use that as a springboard to highlight the network's first-ever triple-header and individual teams across the league.
The comic book, titled 'Tip Off,' features veteran artists Ryan Benjamin and Ryan Odagawa, whose work includes Marvel, DC, and WildStorm. Each cover is unique to its team, resonating with their fan bases and non-NBA fans, acting like a funnel that draws them into the league and sport.
The campaign makes its public debut at ComplexCon in Los Angeles on October 3-4 with an immersive NBC Sports Tip-Off Comic Newsstand. Starting October 8, branded 'newsies' will distribute limited promotional NBA Tip-Off comics at New York City Comic Con, featuring a larger-than-life, 10-foot-tall comic-book installation.