Sports-Related Billboards

Sports-Related Billboards

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A view of a billboard of Real Madrid's Gareth Bale in Times Square on Aug. 1, 2013.

Darko Vojinovic/AP

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic is seen on a building in Belgrade ahead of his Wimbledon final against Andy Murray.

John W. McDonough/SI

The American Airlines Arena in Miami featured LeBron James before Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

screen shot via WXII

A new billboard was erected along Highway 52 in Winston-Salem calling for the jobs of Wake Forest basketball coach Jeff Bzdelik and athletic director Ron Wellman. Bzdellik is 33-59 in three years as the Deamon Deacons coach and has never won more than five ACC Conference games.

North Carolina State took its in-state rivalry with the University of North Carolina to new heights this week when it unveiled several billboards declaring the Tar Heel State to be Wolfpack territory.

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

Drivers on southbound Interstate 5 in Sacramento, Calif., are told that a Kings' move is perhaps more imminent than they once thought. NBA Commissioner David Stern said that a move out of Sacramento would not be approved, and the Board of Governors backed up that statement in mid-May 2013.

AP Photo/The Free-Press, Patricia Beck

Fifteen years after becoming the first all-freshman starting five to reach the NCAA Final Four, former University of Michigan basketball player Jalen Rose (jersey second from the left) purchased this billboard in Detroit in September 2007 to honor the Fab Five's accomplishments. As part of the self-imposed sanctions due to later-discovered NCAA violations, in November 2002 Michigan removed banners associated with the team from Crisler Arena, where the Wolverines play. No mention of the Fab Five exists there today.

Patrick Murphy-Racey/SI

A promotional billboard in Birmingham, Ala. in July 1994 updates motorists on Michael Jordan's batting average during his stint with the local Barons organization, the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. Jordan famously stepped away from basketball in 1993 after some personal tragedies, deciding to pursue a professional baseball career in early 1994. Jordan officially retired from baseball on March 10, 1995, returning to an NBA court just 10 days later.

Chuck Solomon/SI

Not even Phil Knight's deep pockets could sway the 2001 Heisman Committee. Despite a strong season at Oregon and this gaudy billboard in New York's Times Square, Ducks quarterback Joey Harrington would finish fourth in voting and lose to Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch.

John W. McDonough/SI

A ground level billboard reminds Seattle residents just how high Shawn Kemp can fly.

Brad Mangin/SI

San Francisco residents expressed their discontent with all-time home run king Barry Bonds.

AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

Disgruntled Raiders fans posted their dismay with the late Al Davis's front office management near a highway in Oakland, Calif.

Lori Shepler/UPI/LANDOV

After Albert Pujols signed the second-largest contract in MLB history this past offseason, the Los Angeles Angels immediately went to work publicizing their $254 million "man," with billboards throughout Southern California. Pujols reportedly was not a fan of the "El Hombre" tag, giving deference to Hall of Fame St. Louis Cardinal (Pujols' former team) Stan "The Man" Musial, and the organization pulled most of the signs down.

Scott Boehm/Getty Images

Chicago pays tribute to Braves manager Bobby Cox during the summer of 2010, Cox's last season in Atlanta after 29 seasons managing in the big leagues.

Courtesy of Outdoor Advertising Association of America

Bobby Cox got a similar sendoff in the Braves home state of Georgia.

AP Photo/The Hattiesburg American, Matt Bush

Fans of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre organized via Facebook to raise money to display this billboard in his hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss., to try to persuade the 40-year-old to return for another season in 2010. In 2009, his first year in Minnesota, Favre led the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost in overtime to the Saints. Favre did eventually come back for a second season in Minnesota, but he did not complete an injury-riddled year and the team finished 6-10 and missed the playoffs.

AP Photo/David Duprey

A 2009 billboard in Buffalo, N.Y., posted by some ardent Bills fans insisted that owner Ralph Wilson, Jr. fire several members of the team's front office, starting with head coach Dick Jauron. After a 3-6 start to the season, Wilson ultimately listened, dumping Jauron that November, eventually firing VP of pro personnel John Guy in January 2010 and chief of college scouting Tom Modrak in May 2011.

AP Photo/South Bend Tribune, Santiago Flores

Charlie Weis was 22-6 during his first two seasons at Notre Dame, but then hit a 10-15 skid the next two years. As he entered his fifth season as coach, a group of former players used this billboard to let the coach know the past two seasons had not been good enough.

AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki

A billboard welcoming recently introduced Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka to the Red Sox stands near Boston's Fenway Park in February 2007. Dice-K made his Fenway debut in April of that season, a 3-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners. He finished the year 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA.

John Cordes/Icon SMI

A billboard of Darin Erstad and the Anaheim Angels overlooks the 10 Freeway in East Los Angeles. In 2005, owner Arte Moreno changed the team's name to the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" to try to draw more fan support from greater Los Angeles.

ZUMApress.com

Steve Spurrier greets South Carolina with a classic Spurrier face on a Columbia, S.C., billboard.

AP Photo/Mark Duncan

A large Nike banner commemorating LeBron James' sophomore season in the NBA with the Cavaliers hangs on the side of a downtown Cleveland building in November 2005. While James has lived up to the lofty individual expectations of his professional career after skipping college, he never delivered a championship to the Northern Ohio city, which has not had a major professional sports title since 1964.

AP Photo/Alan Diaz

Hoping to win the Peyton Manning sweepstakes after rumors of an eventual divorce between the 14-year veteran quarterback and the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins fans produced this Photoshopped signage alongside I-595 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. in February 2012. The Colts cut Manning loose in early March and he spurned the Dolphins, instead choosing to sign with the Denver Broncos a little more than a week later.

Lee Snider/Corbis

Michael Jordan showcases his six championship rings to E. 125th street in Harlem.

AP Photo

Muhammad Ali, fresh off changing his name from Cassius Clay after joining the Nation of Islam a year prior, stands before a sign denoting his training headquarters in Las Vegas, Nev., on Nov. 21, 1965. The following night, Ali successfully defended his heavyweight title against former two-time champion Floyd Patterson in a 12-round TKO.

Bill Frakes/SI

University of Tennessee senior quarterback Peyton Manning stands under a billboard thanking him for his four record-breaking seasons as a Volunteer. Manning was selected No. 1 overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1998 NFL Draft.

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With a shaky start to the 2011 campaign under quarterback Kyle Orton, supporters of backup Tim Tebow voiced their opinions though a sign in Denver, Colo., to the Broncos brass just three games into the season, insisting first-year head coach John Fox bench Orton for their Mile High Messiah. About a month later with a 1-4 record, Fox finally did, sending Denver on one of the most memorable turnarounds in franchise and NFL history: a 7-4 finish and an AFC West title.

GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images

A South African man walks under a welcoming billboard in Polokwane, South Africa before the 2010 World Cup.

Courtesy of Outdoor Advertising Association of America

Upset Spartan-backers were responsible for this billboard after their favorite team failed to get a Rose Bowl-bid despite having defeated Pasadena-bound Wisconsin 34-24 in conference play and having tied the Badgers for the Big Ten Championship.

Courtesy of Outdoor Advertising Association of America

After Ohio State president Gordon Gee inadvertently insulted nuns by saying Big 10 schools "do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day," a TCU fan responded. Twenty digital billboards went up around Ohio after the Horned Frogs beat a Big Ten school in the Rose Bowl.