The TwHEATup Is On!

After writing in this space on April 8 about the San Francisco Giants decision to have a Tweetup at their April 30 game, I mentioned that three of the four local South Florida professional teams were kind enough to let me know they were researching ways to continue increasing their social media activities with their fans in the future.

To that, I wondered aloud as to which South Florida team would be the first to take advantage and hold a TEAM-SPONSORED fan tweetup. (I was reminded two weeks ago some Twitter users staged a small tweetup at a Marlins game late last season but it was not sponsored by the team).

As it turns out, the weight took all of 13 days, as Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel broke the story in her Business of Sports Blog Wednesday afternoon that the @MiamiHEAT (whose Twitter name used to be @MHEAT) were using Game 3 of their NBA First Round Playoff Series against the Boston Celtics to stage the team's first-ever Tweetup.

In fact, they're taking the bold step of branding the event with a special name -  twHEATup.   Kudos to the person in the organization that figured out twHEATup and Tweetup are pronounced the same.

For $50, twHEATup participants will receive:

• Seats in Section 307 (the special twHEATup section for the evening)
• Halftime Meet & Greet with Heat Dancers
• Postgame Meet & Greet with Former Miami Heat legend Tim Hardaway

Although parking is not included, the ticket price for this special event is a savings of between 16 to 40 percent off the normal single ticket price.

Hopefully, our friends with the Florida Marlins, Florida Panthers and Miami Dolphins will follow suit with tweetups in the coming weeks and months now that the Heat has stepped up and determined how to package the event.  I said it was brilliant when the San Francsico Giants did this, and I applaud the Heat for taking a chance on something they haven't done before.

The only remaining decision for the twHEATup may be which hashtag attendees should use at the event, as the ad for the event shows #LETSGOHEAT and #BLACKisBACK.

Either way, hopefully this is the start of a new era in South Florida sports.