Heat bringing back popular ‘fan-favorite’ Vice uniform for rest of season. Details and photos
On the same day Jimmy Butler could potentially make his Miami Heat return, one of the Heat’s popular Vice uniforms will make its own return on Friday.
Four years after the Heat’s ultra-successful Vice campaign came to an end in 2021, the team announced Thursday morning that it’s bringing back the white Vice uniform that it originally wore during the 2017-18 season and began the four-season Vice campaign that included five different uniforms.
The white Vice uniform will replace the Heat’s traditional white Association uniform for the rest of this season. The Heat will sport the white Vice look for the first time this season when it opens a three-game homestand Friday against the Denver Nuggets at Kaseya Center (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) — the same game that Butler is first eligible to make his return in after serving his team-issued seven-game suspension.
“We have been working with the NBA and with Nike for a number of years to try to make this happen,” Heat executive vice president and chief marketing officer Michael McCullough said. “We are the only team that is going to be bringing another uniform for the rest of this season. This is not a full league initiative. This is the Miami Heat standing alone and bringing back this fan-favorite uniform for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.”
The Heat’s Vice campaign began with the white Vice uniform in the 2017-18 season. Then there was the black “Vice Nights” uniform that was released early in the 2018-19 season, and that was followed by the introduction of the laser fuchsia “Sunset Vice” uniform later that same season. It continued with the blue gale” “ViceWave” uniform during the 2019-20 season and ended during the 2020-21 season with the gradient pattern of Vice colors “ViceVersa” look.
For perspective on how popular the Heat’s Vice campaign has become, more than half of the 440,000 total jerseys that the Heat has sold since Vice made its debut in 2018 have been part of the Vice line. The Heat has sold 230,000 Vice jerseys during that time, resulting in $25 million in revenue.
The Heat has also sold more than $40 million in Vice based merchandise (jerseys, shorts, shirts, hats and more), which makes up about 40 percent of its total retail revenue since 2018.
In addition, the Heat’s Vice license plate is the second-best seller for Florida specialty license plates.
“What we have learned and what the benefit of creating Vice has really been for us is it has created almost a secondary identity for the Miami Heat that has become part of our brand,” McCullough said. “We started off as red, black and white, and we’re the toughest, meanest, nastiest, etc. etc. We are still all of those things when we wear the Vice uniform. However, our presentation gets to change, our look gets to chance, the whole vibe around the team and the franchise gets to change.
“That’s how much this uniform has really meant to us, it’s enabled us to kind of widen the scope of our identity and our brand without ever changing who we are.”
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The only difference between the first white Vice uniform and this season’s white Vice uniform is the Robinhood sponsorship patch on the left shoulder of this season’s jersey.
The Heat is also bringing back a version of the Vice court for its Vice home games this season.
The Heat is scheduled to wear the white Vice uniform 20 times during the rest of the regular season — a number that could grow if Miami makes the playoffs: Friday vs. Nuggets, Thursday at Milwaukee Bucks, Jan. 25 at Brooklyn Nets, Jan. 27 vs. Orlando Magic, Jan. 29 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, Feb. 7 at Nets, Feb. 10 vs. Boston Celtics, Feb. 21 at Toronto Raptors, Feb. 23 at Bucks, Feb. 28 vs. Indiana Pacers, March 7 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, March 8 vs. Chicago Bulls, March 17 at New York Knicks, March 25 vs. Golden State Warriors, March 27 vs. Atlanta Hawks, April 2 at Celtics, April 5 vs. Bucks, April 7 vs. Philadelphia 76ers, April 9 at Bulls and April 13 vs. Washington Wizards.
The Heat is not scheduled to wear its Blood Red “Culture” City Edition uniform in any more games this season.
“We’ve been working with Nike and the NBA to bring this uniform back because it’s basically a bit of a unicorn,” McCullough added on the Heat’s white Vice look. “This uniform was in and out of the marketplace so quickly that if you didn’t get your hands on it, you didn’t get it.”
Whether the Heat brings back other versions of the Vice uniform in the coming season remains to be seen, but the Heat would welcome that opportunity.
“Vice was super successful,” McCullough said. “We would relish the opportunity to bring back additional uniforms. That just remains to be seen if that’s going to be the case.”
While the timing isn’t ideal, considering Butler’s potential return on Friday will likely overshadow the re-debut of the white Vice uniforms, the Heat is moving forward with plans it made months ago.
“There’s a lot of machinations that are at work here and it’s not just the Heat,” McCullough said. “We have national and international retailers who are also part of this program. So, once the wheels start turning on something like this, you really can’t stop it. So obviously, we couldn’t foresee what Friday may be. But we’re just going to roll with it. We’re prepared, but you can’t put the brakes on at this point.”
ALL-STAR UPDATE
The third return of fan balloting for 2025 NBA All-Star Game starters released Thursday didn’t include many changes for the Heat.
Heat guard Tyler Herro ranks 10th among Eastern Conference guards for the East’s two starting backcourt spots.
Butler ranks seventh in the voting for the East’s three starting frontcourt spots. Heat center Bam Adebayo is not among the top 10 vote-getters for East frontcourt players.
The Feb. 16 NBA All-Star Game will take place at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Fans account for 50 percent of the vote to determine the five players honored as starters in each conference for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game. All current NBA players and a media panel account for 25 percent apiece of the vote, with every voter completing a ballot featuring two guards and three frontcourt players.
NBA head coaches will select the seven reserves from each conference.
Voting for fans will conclude Monday. TNT will reveal the NBA All-Star Game starters on Jan. 23 and the reserves on Jan. 30.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
