Big 3 Impact on the Heat

The Miami Heat are pursuing another NBA Championship. In the summer of 2010, the Heat resigned Dwyane Wade and brought in Chris Bosh and Lebron James. This trio was expected to bring the team success for the foreseeable future. The first season after the team was assembled, the Heat went on to the championship but ended up losing to the Dallas Mavericks. In 2012, the Heat found themselves back in the Finals. This time they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the championship. This year looks promising for the Miami Heat, but there is a lot of basketball still to play.

The acquisitions that were made in order to create the big three have paid off on the court. Below I will assess the impact the big three have made off the court in the area of attendance and team value.

Attendance
Attendance figures are often skewed because of the differing size of basketball arenas. In the data I looked at the 2012 season was also impacted by less games due to the lockout. I looked at average fans per home games specifically for the Miami Heat in order to assess the attendance impact of the big three.

In the 2010 season (the season before the big three) the Miami Heat averaged 17,730 fans per home game. In 2011, the first season after the acquisition, the Heat averaged 19,778 fans per home game. The increase in fans was quite significant in the first year and the impact of the big three has not faded since. In the shortened 2012 season, fans per home game attendance grew slightly to 19,935. This season has kept attendance high with an average of 19,982 fans per home game.

Team Value
The team value of the Miami Heat was taken by Forbes each year. Teams value in the NBA have naturally been increasing each year but not at the rate that the Heat have seen.

In the 2010 season the Miami Heat were valued at an estimated $425 million. The season after the acquisition saw a rise in estimated value to $457 million. After a lockout season, NBA team values skyrocketed. In an estimated valuation done in January of 2013, the Miami Heat were worth $625 million.

Final Thought
The numbers tell the story for the Miami Heat. The success of the team has been evident on the court and even more so off the court. It is often difficult to see true impact by simply assessing numbers. I have seen the Heat impact for myself through my family. My grandfather, a Florida resident, has never been an NBA fan. I was watching game three of the Heat vs. Bulls series and he was avidly rooting for the Heat (while I was rooting for the underdog). He then told me that he watches all the Heat games he can because it is fun to watch "true talent." Interesting.

@dmrosen7