The Vice jerseys are coming back.
Starting in Friday, Feb. 17’s home game against the Denver Nuggets, the Miami Heat will wear the original white Miami Vice jersey from the 2018-19 season in place of their default white jerseys. They are scheduled to wear the Vice jerseys for 10 total games this season.
This is an unprecedented initiative that took the Heat working with the NBA and Nike to greenlight, according to the team. As Vice returns, the campaign is taking on the slogan, “The Original Vice.”
“There may be a bunch of knock-offs, but there is only one original,” said senior vice president of brand and chief creative officer Jennifer Alvarez.
Since debuting in 2018 as Miami’s original City Edition jersey, Vice exploded locally and became the most successful uniform and brand campaign during Nike’s partnership with the NBA.
Over 230,000 Vice jerseys sold since its debut in 2018 resulting in $25 million in revenue. For perspective, the Heat have sold more than 440,000 total jerseys in that same time frame (makes up more than half).
The Heat have sold over 2.3 million units of Vice for over $40 million in Vice-based merchandise (jerseys, shorts, shirts, hats, etc.) which makes up around 40% of total retail revenue.
The Miami Heat Vice license plate is the No. 2 top seller for Florida specialty license plates.
The Heat built on the Vice campaign for four seasons, starting with the original white jersey and expanding the line to include black, pink, blue and tie-dye jerseys from 2018 to 2021.
“It has created almost a second identity for the Miami Heat,” said executive vice president and chief marketing officer Michael McCullough. “It has become part of our brand.”
There have been several variations of Miami’s Vice campaign across sport, including FAU in Boca Raton debuting its own vice-themed campaign for sports last season.
The Heat are the only team in the NBA that has been granted the ability to bring back a previous City Edition jersey. The organization lobbied Nike and the league, citing the campaign’s popularity and lucrativeness.
Vice jerseys will go on sale at the Miami Heat store starting Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. For the 10 home games featuring the Vice jersey, the team will also bring back the Vice court with the scripted wordmark at center court.
The team does not have any more games scheduled for the Heat “Culture” campaign, purposely keeping those games to the first half of the season in preparation for the return of Vice.
As of now, there are no plans to expand Vice – or bring back other jersey variants – beyond this season.