The NBA is a brand that is as American as apple pie, but that may not be the case for too much longer. Plans for it to expand its operations into Europe are already well underway.
Among the first fruits of those plans are Basketball Schools that have been set up in locations across Italy. These are facilities that offer training in how to play the game like NBA pros.
They are proving to be very successful, but they are just the opening salvo in the NBA’s European expansion campaign. It is hoped that by the end of it, the league will have real market penetration in that continent.
In this article, we will examine what this European expansion will entail.
A Major Sporting Brand Name
The NBA is already a major brand name, with an approximate value of $160 billion. Meanwhile, the value of an average individual team in the league is roughly $5.4 billion.
What creates that value is a mix of revenues from things like merchandise and lucrative deals with media companies. A lot of NBA content is now consumed online as well as on television, so digital media is ever more important.
Then there is its connection to the sports betting industry. Large numbers of fans love to lay NBA player props at those sites and some teams have commercial partnerships with them.
There are numerous ways for both the teams and the overall league to increase revenues and value. Just like the NFL and the English Premier League, the NBA has proven adept at identifying and exploiting them.
Now it has defined expansion into European markets as the next goal. It might seem a daunting task, as basketball is still far more associated with the US than any European country.
The NBA has a detailed plan that it is working on, so it would be foolish to write off its chances.
The Plans for Future Expansion
At the very heart of that plan is a move to develop a European NBA league. This is something that is being pursued in collaboration with FIBA, which is the global basketball governing body.
This exciting project was only unveiled very recently, during an Italian press conference. The man who had the job of announcing it to the world was George Aivazoglou, the managing director of NBA Europe.
What we found out during this conference is that the proposed league would have 16 teams competing in it, with 12 of them being permanent franchises. It was also revealed that NBA Europe hopes to recruit teams from across the continent.
In addition to Italy, this means the likes of Germany, Spain, France and the UK. That side of things remains fairly underdeveloped right now, with no contracts of any sort having been signed.
One aspect of the project that Aivazoglou was happy to confirm during the press conference was the favored launch date. It is hoped that the European NBA league will debut in October 2027.
So what are the motivating factors behind this project? Well, they are not particularly difficult to grasp. Europe has been a target market for the NBA for a number of years and a European league makes sense when you understand that.
This is why it is introducing pre-season matches in places like Germany and the UK, too. If there is one thing that has led to a stepping up of the plan, it is the rise of European players in the league.
Victor Wembanyama and Luka Doncic are two such players and both have become NBA stars. That has increased European interest in the game and a league there could really help that to take off.
The Special Importance of Italy
When the NBA Europe league is set up, most countries within the continent will be involved in it. However, it is already clear that Italy will play a dominant role.
Two of the permanent franchise teams will be Italian ones, with the likely locations being Rome and Milan. These could be developed from the ground up, or by taking over existing basketball sides. There is even talk of involving the football clubs.
Development will be easier in Milan, because it has more in the way of sporting infrastructure. Rome has passion though – as Aivazoglou pointed out.
Making Italy so central to the project is a good idea, because there is already real consumer interest in basketball there. That gives NBA Europe a readymade fan base and talented players to work with.
The country has tiers of leagues and its own cup competition. Some other European countries may be more of a challenge.
The expansion of the NBA into Europe is happening already, but the countdown is on to the new league.
Featured image: Unsplash
