The Miami Heat played their first game of the 2023-24 season on Wednesday night and the team took a moment to honor Jimmy with his daughter Savannah in attendance. She sat next to an empty chair with a guitar on the seat.
photo Josh Moser
photo Josh Moser
Buffett regularly attended Heat games. During the 2014 NBA Finals, SB Nation created a GIF of Jimmy and titled it “Jimmy Buffett is way too excited the Heat are losing”
And a story about Buffett and the Miami Heat wouldn’t be complete without a mention of his ejection from a game in 2001 after cursing at a referee: Jimmy Buffett Ejected from Miami Heat Game
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It was announced today that Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville will become the title sponsor of the professional Major League Pickleball.
Major League Pickleball and Margaritaville today announced title sponsorship of the fast-growing professional pickleball league, branding the league as “MLP by Margaritaville.” This marks a seminal moment for the sport with one of the largest commercial deals ever for MLP, adding a world class partner to elevate the live experience for fans and players.
Margaritaville will play a large part in the branding and strategy of on-site fan activations and immersive entertainment, bringing a Margaritaville state of mind to the MLP community at tournaments nationwide. Tonight kicks off the 2023 campaign for MLP with the airing of the MLP Premier Level draft at 9:00pm EST live on Tennis Channel.
“I am happy to be in the same boat with MLP,” said Jimmy Buffett. “The first time I played pickleball, I was hooked. Fun has always been a part of life to me and I think of pickleball as the perfect ratio of work to play. We can’t wait to bring this partnership to life for MLP players and fans. See you on the court. Fins Up, Paddles Up!”
Margaritaville has been connected to pickleball and a driving force behind the growth of the sport in the travel and hospitality space for over five years. The brand has more than 30 dedicated courts across their lodging locations, with enthusiastic residents always on the courts at the brand’s Latitude Margaritaville active-living communities in Daytona Beach, FL; Hilton Head, SC; and Watersound, FL.
“We take pride in our longstanding support of the sport through multi-faceted event sponsorships and the growing number of courts at our lodging destinations,” said John Cohlan, CEO of Margaritaville. “It’s exciting to be part of pickleball’s continued success and evolution, so we look forward to keeping the momentum going with Major League Pickleball and the league’s one-of-a-kind events and impressive collection of team owners, players, and executives.”
Margaritaville has collaborated with various integrations and tournaments, including serving as the title sponsor of the USA Pickleball National Championships since 2018, the Powered by partner of the US Open in Naples since 2017, and as the Official Lodging Partner of the PPA. A line of Margaritaville pickleball paddles and gear is also available through HEAD, a leading sports equipment company.
“Since the inception of MLP, the league has been deliberate about bringing on partners who unlock new strategies and opportunities for us as a league,” said MLP Founder and Chairman, Steve Kuhn. “As we continue to innovate the live experience for partners, fans, and players, there is no better partner than Margaritaville. Their brand is certainly a lifestyle and we can’t wait to bring the Margaritaville experience to MLP events in 2023 and beyond.”
This week, MLP unveiled a dynamic league format for 2023 including 24 teams featuring high profile ownership groups, two seasons with major events across the U.S., a promotion and relegation system, and expanded prize money up to $5M. This made MLP the first major American professional sports league to implement a promotion and relegation system by introducing top-tier MLP Premier Level and upstart MLP Challenger Level with teams competing in two 3-event seasons to solidify their spot in the top Level.
Get more information on the league at majorleaguepickleball.net.
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Sean Payton, the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, will interview Jimmy Buffett on Wednesday:
New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton interviewed musician, songwriter, author and longtime Saints fan Jimmy Buffett for a piece that will air Wednesday, April 15 at 12:00 p.m. CT on “#HomeTeamTV”, the club’s daily content series for fans during the governmental stay-at-home order.
The Payton-Buffett interview will be part of #HomeTeamTV’s weekly “Wildcard Wednesdays” segment, presented by Entergy. The episode will be available on NewOrleansSaints.com and the Saints app, as well as official Saints social channels.
Payton, the winningest coach in Saints history and Buffett, who has put out 27 top-charting studio albums, New York Times bestselling books, a Broadway play and has made numerous movie and television appearances, while standing the test of time in numerous sold-out world tours, have enjoyed a long friendship. While Buffett was a longtime Saints fan as a native of Pascagoula, Miss. and having grown up in Mobile, Al., he and Payton became familiar in the head coach’s first season in New Orleans, when he guided the Black and Gold to the NFC Championship. That bond has only solidified as the Saints’ fortunes have risen under Payton, with the Saints qualifying for the playoffs eight times, winning six division titles, appearing in three NFC Championships and winning Super Bowl XLIV. Buffett is often a guest on the Saints sidelines at contests at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and has performed the national anthem multiple times.
Payton and Buffett will touch on multiple topics during the interview. Among them, the two will talk about the beginning of their long friendship, the mutual respect and admiration for each other’s professions, the ties between football and music, the Saints’ prospects for the upcoming season, as well as catching up on Buffett’s latest entertainment projects.
You’ll be able to watch at neworleanssaints.com on Wednesday at 12:00pm CT.
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If you have a minor league or major league baseball team in your city, you may have noticed that they’ve had a Margaritaville night recently.
Bill Shea at The Athletic has an article on Buffett’s move into baseball: Sports fanatic Jimmy Buffett is bringing his $1.5 billion ‘Margaritaville’ empire to a ballpark near you
A catchy four-minute, 10-second song about a salty tequila cocktail and failed relationships topped out at No. 8 on 1977’s Billboard Hot 100 chart. But it has evolved over four subsequent decades into a lifestyle anthem for a brand that continues to grow, in part, because of its increasing presence in America’s ballparks and arenas.
The song, of course, is Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville.”
It’s also the name of Buffett’s $1.5 billion corporate business empire that includes music, apparel and merchandise, a satellite radio station, hotels, casinos, retirement communities, beer, liquor, food, New York Times best-selling books, a Broadway musical and now the “Coral Reefer” marijuana brand.
This year, 16 major-league and 25 minor-league baseball teams held official “Margaritaville” theme nights at their stadiums to goose revenue, the company said, and the promotion resulted in thousands of additional ticket sales. A couple of NHL…
Read the full article at The Athletic.
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