Apparel Brand VANCITY ORIGINAL Recruits Billionaires to Bring the NBA Back to Vancouver

June 22nd was a big day for basketball. It was the day every NBA team drafted its next round of prospects to take their franchise into the future. Meanwhile in Vancouver, there’s a group that’s looking to recruit a team of its own to help get Vancouver back into the NBA game. A team of billionaires. 

Spearheaded by the Vancouver office of independent creative agency Zulu Alpha Kilo for sports apparel brand VANCITY ORIGINAL, the initiative launched this week with a website featuring 15 VANBACK jerseys that are being offered exclusively to anyone who can pledge $200 million towards a future team. With 15 key players secured, pledges would add up to $3 billion, roughly the average valuation of an NBA team.

Coinciding with NBA draft day, one of the VANBACK jerseys was delivered by security guards to the VANCITY ORIGINAL store on Thursday night, encased in plexiglass. The price tag of $200 million raised many eyebrows. “We’re hoping this initiative will help get Vancouver back on the radar as the perfect city for a future team,” says VANCITY ORIGINAL founder Jeff Martin. “We’ve got the fans. We just need some billionaires to help us out.” 

Fans can see the digital jerseys at VANBACK.ca and create their own to show their support or follow along at @teamvanback on Instagram and Twitter. The initiative’s goal is to rally fan support and get enough billionaires on board to help build a team that can take the ball and run with it. Without travelling, of course. 

“We want to contribute to the city,” says Zak Mroueh, founder and creative chairman of Zulu Alpha Kilo, which expanded into Vancouver and New York in 2022. “We’ve seen how basketball culture has grown with the Raptors’ success and think Vancouver deserves that shot again too. It’d be amazing for the city and Canada to have two teams up north.” 

Do you know a billionaire basketball fan who might want to join the team?