It was like a rocket that kept going and going,“ McCullough recently recalled. “Vice launches and I thought something was wrong, because the numbers were changing so fast. And as its midnight Eastern release approached, McCullough was in Vegas, tracking the initial sales from his phone alongside Andy Montero, the team’s vice president of retail business and development. The Heat named the new jersey “Vice,” also paying homage to the famous police serial, which has become so identified with the city.
The Heat went for a predominantly white jersey, with “laser fuchsia” and “blue gale” accents, featuring “Miami” script across the chest in the same font of the sign that hung on the team’s first venue, Miami Arena, from 1988 to 1999. Nike had just supplanted Adidas as the league’s official apparel provider and introduced “City Edition” uniforms, allowing teams to channel the aesthetic of their respective cities through unique designs. He had just come from the NBA’s annual retail and licensing meetings and was anxiously waiting to see how people would react to the franchise’s new uniform. Michael McCullough, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the Miami Heat, recalls sitting in the Las Vegas airport one evening in January 2018.
