DETROIT-Basketball superstar LeBron James

Lebron moves to the Miami Heat has turned the team’s sponsors and broadcast partners into big winners.

Heat owner Micky Arison, chief executive of cruise line giant Carnival Corp., must be smiling as demand for tickets and sponsorships will skyrocket, while ad rates will soar for national and local TV partners, analysts said.

James’s announcement on Thursday that he planned to join fellow all-stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh made the Heat the instant odds-on favorite to win the next NBA title with many Las Vegas bookmakers.

"They are now going to be the glamour team of the NBA," said Marc Ganis, president of consulting firm Sportscorp Ltd.

"Sponsors are going to want to be a part of it, their tickets are going to be incredibly valuable, especially the better seats, and every single game is going to be an event and a happening in Miami this season," he added.

James’s announcement during a one-hour prime-time show on Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN sports network scored an overnight TV rating in 56 top markets of 7.3, the highest rating for any program that night, according to Nielsen. A ratings point is a percentage of US television households that watched the program.

The Heat will remain popular for national and local TV partners, including ESPN, ABC and TNT, and ad rates for its games could rise 10% or more nationally and as much as 25% locally, analysts said.

"Miami’s going to be like the second home team for a lot of basketball fans because they’re going to be on so much," said Brad Adgate, senior vice-president at ad buyer Horizon Media.

Attendance also will be strong as the team’s ticket hot line rang off the hook in the run-up to the LeBron announcement.

"The sale of premium seats and season tickets over the last couple of weeks has been extremely brisk, peaking in a new intensity the last couple of days," Eric Woolworth, the Heat’s president of business operations, said in a statement. "As a result, we have sold out of our currently available season ticket inventory."