• Miami Herald, Wednesday, August 11, 2010 10:40 AM

Travel company Assist-Card took a gamble in early 2009 when it decided to commit a goodly portion of its marketing dollars to a five-year deal with the Miami Heat. It became a top sponsor of the team, which was coming off some woeful seasons, at a time when companies were backing away from pricey sports deals, Lilly Echeverria reports.

Now it looks like the company has scored big time by buying low. Many observers expect the Heat to win the NBA championship next year in a very visible fashion, following the addition of superstars LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

Assist-Card's deal is unusually generous. As the "presenting" sponsor, the brand appears under the Heat logo in most advertising. At the top of the team's homepage, visitors see "Heat presented by Assist-Card" in large type.

Still, there are skeptics. "Sponsors have to do a lot of work in order to get value," says Larry DeGaris, associate professor of sports marketing at the University of Indianapolis. "It's great they're going to have all this visibility, but what are you going to do with it?"

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