There have been plenty of iconic “This Is SportsCenter” ads over the years (personal favorites here are Charley Steiner yelling “Follow me to freedom!”, John Clayton’s ponytail, and Gordie Howe working over Keith Olbermann), and ESPN’s said they’re going to continue them despite ad agency Wieden+Kennedy (which created the spots) leaving them for FS1. we haven’t seen a new one in a while, though, and UNLV’s football team has now stepped up to fill the void with a “This is Las Vegas” ad:
The devotion to the details here (font, timestamps, and so on) is great, as is the general concept of assigning jersey numbers from a roulette wheel. And it’s smart for UNLV to try and gain some attention this way; football in Las Vegas is getting lots of buzz at the moment, but the Raiders aren’t moving there for a few years (with the Rebels joining them in the new domed stadium). Maybe the Rebels can capitalize on some of the attention before then. And you have to go a bit outside of the box to promote a Mountain West team that went 4-8 last year (and 3-9 the year before, and 2-11 the year before that; also, their “List of seasons” Wikipedia page hasn’t been updated since 2014). So well played, UNLV.
[SI.com]
