The NBA's Most Valuable Free T-Shirt
Everything you wanted to know about OKC’s unintentional playoff tradition
Welcome back to Club Sportico, where we break down the intersection of sports and money—with an extra bit of humor and opinion. Today, we talk about fan fashion.
If you ever want to get on a jumbotron at an NBA arena, here’s one sure-fire method: show up to an Oklahoma City Thunder home playoff game and don’t put on the free T-shirt set out for fans on every seat.
Camera operators hunt for the non-compliant, and leave them on blast until they cooperate. Doesn’t matter if the seats are still largely empty. Doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a Thunder shirt from the previous game, or if you’re eating. It doesn’t matter if you just arrived. A camera will find you, and boos will follow. The message is clear: PUT YOUR T-SHIRT ON.
OKC has created custom shirts for each of its 66 home postseason games (number 67 is tonight). Compliance was pretty good for No. 1, back in 2010, though you can spot some standouts in the crowd.
The shirts were initially planned to be a one-time thing, but after seeing the response, the team sprang into action, preparing a design for the next game 48 hours later—and every one since.
“I mean, everybody likes a free T-shirt, but it became more than just a free T-shirt,” Thunder VP, broadcasting and corporate communications Dan Mahoney said. “It became a way for fans to truly, you know, be in unison supporting the team.”
A single sideline-sitter’s refusal to wear said shirt became a multiday story early in the playoffs, before folks seemed to realize that trying to shame him was only delivering more attention.
The team designs custom looks for each game, paired to whatever color the players are wearing, while a print run of 18,000+ is handled by the local Oklahoma Shirt Company. Team sponsors help foot the bill, and Thunder employees carefully lay out the giveaways for maximum visual appeal. Everyone gets an XL, though other sizes are available via exchange at concourse kiosks.
“I've seen people come in when the doors open (two hours before playoff games), and rather than rush and get, you know, a beer or a hot dog or something, they're rushing to their seats to get their T-shirts,” Mahoney said.
Players have called Paycom Center the loudest basketball arena they’ve ever been in—and the fan aesthetics make it one of the most pleasing to watch from the couch.
Mahoney said the shirts remain visible throughout town after games too, and can often be spotted days, months, or even years after the fact. “365 days a year, on any given day, you will see Thunder fans around town wearing playoff T-shirts,” he said.
Some pop-up on eBay, alongside plenty of knock-offs. But be warned, if you do buy an authentic Thunder playoffs giveaway T-shirt, it’s almost certainly coming pre-worn.
Lev’s take: I appreciate the Thunder for its efforts to elevate the visual aesthetic of the NBA Playoffs. This…
… is a lot nicer to look at than this…
… which is still nicer to look at than this:
If you’re going to wear alternate jerseys for a playoff game (but like, please just don’t), can you at least have the shade of dark blue on the jerseys match the shade of dark blue on the court? And can one of the two teams please wear a lighter color?
How the games look matters. Teams should pick one home jersey for the entire playoffs, all fans should wear the team shirt, and there should be a trophy at center court during the Finals. This isn’t hard, people.
Club Sportico is a community organized by Sportico, a digital media company launched in 2020 to cover the business side of sports. You can read breaking news, smart analysis, and in-depth features from Eben, Jacob and their colleagues at Sportico.com, and listen to the Sporticast podcast wherever you get your audio. Contact us at club@sportico.com.