NikeTown New York

Nike World Basketball Festival & NikeTown NYC Takeover (2010)

In Summer 2010, Nike and USA Basketball launched the inaugural World Basketball Festival, a four-day event in New York City that combined performance, culture, community, and entertainment. Thousands of hosts, fans, and creators came together—culminating in a sellout crowd of ~19,763 at Madison Square Garden for the closing exhibition games (Team USA vs France; China vs Puerto Rico). Bleacher Report The festival kicked off at Radio City Music Hall with ~6,000 attendees, and events across Times Square, Rucker Park, Madison Square Garden, and Niketown. Vintersections+2Nike Investor Relations+2

“United We Rise,” a community legacy initiative launched at the festival, committed to refurbishing or dedicating 25 basketball courts throughout New York City to leave a lasting impact. Nike Investor Relations

At NikeTown NYC, I managed the takeover of the store—transforming the space into a basketball
arena-like environment with massive player caricatures (Kevin Durant, Yi Jianlian), themed visuals and decor across Converse, Jordan Brand, and Nike Basketball, and installations designed to create immersive retail storytelling. Sneaker News+1

This project wasn’t just a collection of games and activations—it was a media spectacle. The visual installations at NikeTown, the open-air practices, and the exhibition games got widespread coverage in outlets like SneakerNews, NYMag, and Bleacher Report, reinforcing Nike’s position as a cultural anchor in basketball and urban community engagement.

As Project Director for Nike Basketball, I led the Lit Workshop team in delivering a complete transformation of NikeTown NYC for the inaugural World Basketball Festival. My role spanned strategic planning, creative production, and on-site execution, ensuring every detail aligned with Nike’s vision and the cultural energy of the event.

This high-profile takeover required orchestrating cross-functional teams, managing tight timelines, and coordinating with Nike brand leaders, designers, fabricators, and city officials to meet strict codes and safety standards. From massive custom installations and branded zones for Nike Basketball, Jordan Brand, and Converse, to visual storytelling that matched the festival’s energy across multiple levels of the store, I ensured the experience was seamless, impactful, and built to handle thousands of daily visitors.

The result was a show-stopping retail environment that became a centerpiece of the festival—merging sport, culture, and community, and setting a new benchmark for Nike’s flagship activations.