The multi-year, $400 million partnership grants the sponsor exclusive branding rights over the final 120 seconds of game clock, a period that routinely takes up to 45 minutes of real time to complete.
NEW YORK — The National Basketball Association announced a multi-year, $400 million partnership on Thursday, officially rebranding the agonizing, foul-heavy conclusion of every basketball game as the "Emirates Final Two Minutes."
Under the terms of the agreement, all national and local play-by-play broadcasters will be legally required to announce the arrival of the Emirates Final Two Minutes as soon as the clock strikes 2:00 in the fourth quarter. In addition, the standard referee's whistle will be followed by the airline's signature boarding chime whenever a coach calls one of their remaining six timeouts to advance the ball past half-court.
When fans are trapped on their couches watching six consecutive intentional fouls and a four-minute monitor review of a loose ball, they have a deep, undivided connection with our broadcast partners.
League officials confirmed the sponsorship will also extend to the NBA's postgame referee transparency memos, which have been retitled the Emirates Final Two Minutes Uncorrected Error Reports. To ensure the airline receives its guaranteed broadcast exposure, the competition committee has reportedly instructed officiating crews to look for any excuse to trigger a replay review during one-possession games, ensuring the Emirates logo remains on screen for at least three commercial breaks per minute of game action.
The NBA Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the sale, noting the influx of capital will help franchises offset the rising cost of paying fired head coaches to not work.
At press time, Commissioner Adam Silver was fielding aggressive nine-figure bids from DraftKings and State Farm for the naming rights to the three-second period where a player complains to an official with his palms up instead of running back on defense.