You need to think outside the box --
buy up all the local media outlets; purchase a national network. hire a bunch of bimbos and hacks and tell them to inform the viewers ad nauseum you have the best frickin' basketball team on the planet and that fans should be thrilled to pay exorbitant prices to see your collection of gods play basketball. have a bunch of personal interest stories, too -- your players are good husbands, model fathers, community supporters, drug-free, patriotic, good looking -- and, of course, your opponents are none of those things. get a good versus evil storyline going.
control the release of data, as well. if the statistics don't tell the story you want told, well, then, "adjust" the statistics. focus on those that paint your team in favorable colors; ignore or dismiss as lies those data points that don't.
gain control of the message -- and you can shape the reality. of course, this is predicated on the premise that your fans are really pretty damn dumb and can be manipulated -- but we live in an age where no one went broke showing scorn for the fans.