The Miami Heat has managed to build unusual excitement for a random November regular-season game by unveiling a jaw-dropping new set of jerseys for its home game against the Indiana Pacers on Friday.
The Heat has hyped it as the first “Vice Night” of the year, when it will debut the black variation of its white Vice jerseys from last season. On Thursday, Miami dropped one more bit of promotional material to get its fan base excited for the new look, revealing the intro video it will play prior to tipoff.
Dwyane Wade got to do the honors of sending the video out into the world when he tweeted it out to his nearly 8 million followers.
“I’m excited to be wearing this jersey during my #OneLastDance,” Wade wrote in the Twitter post accompanying the video.
The video, which is soundtracked by Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” opens with an aerial shot of Miami Beach at night before zooming in on a sports car with a new black “Vice” license plate affixed to its back bumper. As the music builds, the video spotlights the majority of the Heat roster donning the black jerseys in the rain while holding Vice-appropriate black or blue basketballs.
Miami has spent the past week rolling out reveals for the new set of jerseys. On Monday, the Heat revealed the City black Edition jerseys it plans to wear 15 times this season.
On Tuesday, Miami revealed the Vice-themed court it will play on at AmericanAirlines Arena 14 times this year. And Wednesday, the Heat announced it would have black Vice-themed license plates available for fans.
At midnight Thursday, Miami is even hosting a special “Vice Nights” midnight-madness event, at which fans will be able to purchse the new jerseys ahead of the game against the Pacers.
The Heat will wear the black Vice jerseys at 14 home games this season. In addition to Friday against Indiana, Miami will also wear the jerseys Saturday against the Washington Wizards, Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers, Nov. 18 against the Los Angeles Lakers, Nov. 20 against the Brooklyn Nets, Nov. 27 against the Atlanta Hawks and Nov. 30 against the Pelicans. The Heat will wear the jerseys four times in December, three times in February and once in April.
