The Globalization of the NBA

     The NBA'S plan to expand has been a long time coming. With pro football looking to possibly place a team(s) in London, and the NCAA  making moves towards China, it was only a matter of time before the NBA looked to expand its brand. Though this would seem logical due to the competition for TV time and competing with other global sports brands, many seem skeptical of an NBA presence in Europe. The opportunities that can come with expanding your brand are vast, but expanding too fast without properly analyzing the market could be catastrophic.
     The NBA is without a doubt the most elite basketball league in the world. Every four years, at the summer olympics, the United States men's basketball team seems to dominate the competition (with exception to 2004 when they placed third) with many of those players coming from the NBA. So much so, its as if other teams enter the tournament to compete for second place. We are starting to see more and more European players enter into the NBA every year, coming from European universities or European basketball leagues. There is obviously a great amount of basketball talent coming from Europe, and with the NBA having a presence in select European countries, it would give these players a better opportunity to be noticed and compete in the most elite basketball league in the world.
     I believe the main reason as to why the NBA is looking to expand is because they want to keep up with the current trend going on in American sports. For the past 6 years, the NFL has been playing pre-season and regular season games in London, in hopes that it can create some sort of European fan base and gain some support for their move. By the NFL playing a few games overseas, it also allows them to analyze the size of the market and calculate the potential for growth. In order for the NBA to be successful in their expansion efforts they must follow in the footsteps of the NFL, because I can guarantee that neither the NFL nor the NBA will dominate the European sports market like soccer does, so rushing into Europe could be very costly.
     Probably the biggest consequence that can come from an unsuccessful expansion overseas is all four European NBA teams fail to attract the audience necessary to keep supporting these teams, leading to not being able to afford good players, coaching staff, and trainers, and ultimately shutting down the European NBA system. If the NBA does not do a proper analysis of the market and place four teams in locations where basketball is not hugely popular, it can be very difficult for them to gain the support to expand. As I had previously stated, the NBA should look to the NFL when it comes to expanding to a foreign market. Slowly exposing the NBA to Europeans will spark the interest of European sports fans.

References

Gibson, O. (2015, January 15). NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to launch four European franchises. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jan/15/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-european-franchises

Barnwell, Bill. "London Calling." Grantland. N.p., 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.