Pizza Hut’s Basketball Hoop Boxes Bounce Back Into Meals After Decades

Pizza Hut is jumping through hoops to appeal to fans’ nostalgia with the return of its iconic playable hoop packaging and mini basketballs for the first time since the 1990s.

With March Madness sneaking in, the fast-food chain hopes fans can temper their nerves with an XL slice of pizza while making a few free throws.

Featuring a more dynamic palette than those of yesteryear, the 2023 Mini Basketballs, priced at US$7, replace the classic orange with a red and black colorway. Emblazoned on them is Pizza Hut’s catchphrase, “No One Out Pizza’s The Hut.”

Overachievers can aim for the best eating experience with the new interactive boxes, which double as hoops for the mini basketballs. A cutout on the lid of the box allows fans to convert the packaging into a two-in-one hoop and backboard.

The special-edition goodies are complements for Pizza Hut’s limited-edition Big New Yorker pie, also a favorite from the 90s.

“We’re back again for the seventh year as the official pizza of March Madness, and we wanted to do something special for pizza-loving basketball fans,” details Lindsay Morgan, Pizza Hut’s Chief Marketing Officer. “That’s why we’re bringing back a fan-favorite item, our Mini Basketballs, to pair perfectly with pizza orders during the tournament and unveiling interactive hoop pizza box packaging for customers to get into the basketball action at home.”

Fans can have a slice of the March Madness experience when the basketballs and unique pizza boxes shoot into locations beginning March 14.

[via FoodSided and ComicBook.com, images via Pizza Hut / PR Newswire]