NBA

Shakira Concert Forces Miami Heat To Move Their Preseason Media Day

Pat Riley’s a powerful guy around basketball, a winner of multiple championships and the man who made the LeBron/Wade/Bosh Miami Heat triumvirate happen.

But neither Riley nor his ballyhooed team are any match for…pop stars? That’s what a recent tweet from Michael Wallace, who covers the Heat for the Miami Herald, suggested:

Shakira concert forces Heat to relocate Sept. 27 media to UM’s basketball facility in Coral Gables.

Of course, money-wise, this is a no-brainer. Shakira will bring thousands of paying customers. The Heat’s media day will bring…media. Still, after all the attention focused on the Heat during the Summer of LeBron, it’s kind of fun to see the Heat get pre-empted for any reason, even one that makes total sense.

And that might not be the end of the Heat (trying to) fly under the radar: word last week was that the team might move preseason camp to a more remote location in Florida in an attempt to lessen media attention.

Riley, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, said a relocation for training camp was “something he believed would be to his players’ liking,” and while the events of the summer leave us unconvinced the Heat would be against anything that raises their profile, we’ll concede that it could be beneficial for the team to at least feel like there’s a bit less media pressure.

Then again, as Pro Basketball Talk’s Kurt Helin said, “The media circus has come to Miami. Nothing is changing that.” The Heat made the big personnel moves, so they get big attention – unless Shakira’s in town.

H/T SPORTSbyBROOKS

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