I officially can't stand David Stern. No wonder nobody gives a flying fart about the NBA in America. He's to busy trying to promote it globally. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2085418 Four NBA teams to hold training camps overseasAssociated Press AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Four NBA teams will hold training camps overseas and play preseason games against top European clubs in both 2006 and 2007, NBA commissioner David Stern announced Tuesday night at Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Stern also said the league was considering playing an All-Star game in Paris as part of the NBA's effort to increase its presence in global markets. Also, the league is strongly considering playing exhibition games in China and Latin America in 2006. "What we are doing here tonight, and have done, is to assure that elite athletes will increasingly bounce the ball rather than kick it," Stern said. "I think we're increasing the viability of the sport on a global basis." The NBA teams, to be determined later, will play and hold training camps in four European cities. In addition, a four-team tournament will be held in a fifth city. It will include two NBA teams, as well as the defending Euroleague champion and runner-up. The NBA's last visit to Europe was in 2003 for the NBA Europe Games, which featured a preseason game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies at Bercy Arena in Paris. Teams also traveled to Milan, Berlin, Seville, London, Barcelona, Bologna and Munich during the 1990s, and European clubs played exhibitions against the NBA's Toronto Raptors this past preseason. The new plans take the NBA's European wanderlust to a new level. With teams holding training camps overseas, they would presumably be on the road for as long as a two-week stretch before returning to North America. "There was a time when the idea of an NBA team playing an exhibition game in Europe was just going through the motions. Now the question will be whether our teams have enough training camp under their belts to play and win in Europe," Stern said. Stern would not disclose the exact sites being considered, or the teams that have been receptive to opening camps in Europe. "If you began to guess at large European cities, and teams that have some sort of international flavor, you could begin to sort of see the list from which we are working," Stern said, adding that a final decision on cities and teams should be made by October. Stern also said the NBA had asked to see a copy of the building specifications for a proposed arena in Paris. The league is already giving serious consideration to holding its 2007 All-Star game in Las Vegas, but taking it overseas would present a number of new logistical difficulties that the league is currently reviewing. "It certainly is on the table for discussion," Stern said.
Beats the way they jerk around teams by having them camp here, then take 8+ hr flights around the globe and back. All-Star game in Paris is ass, however. VEGAS BABY Evan
Well, if they do have an ASG in Paris maybe they will get rid of all the god-awful cross marketing and celebrity interviews. Makes the game completely unwatchable.
This is about a lot more than preseason games. He seems to spend a big chunk of his effort at trying to globalize the NBA. Meanwhile, the officiating sucks, TV ratings are in the crapper, the product quality is down, and the league is on the verge of its second labor crisis in seven years. If the NBA can't survive in America, then marketing it around the globe won't do him much good.
Freaking Dancing with the Stars has better ratings than the NBA FINALS. What is Stern trying to do? I know he wants to globalize the sport, but basketball will not take over Soccer as the dominant sport in Europe. Stern's gotta set his values straight. Take the ASG to Vegas, like people said, that'll generate a helleva interest. But Paris? With the time differential and all that (there is one, right?), I'm not sure I would tune in.
As long as we still get to have it here this coming season I dont care what they do with it for the next 5-10 seasons...
Why? the American viewing public is getting ever-more fractionalized in the advent of digital cable etc etc etc. He can fight baseball and football for a smaller pie or look abroad for an untapped market - where basketball is solidly the no. 2 global team sport behind soccer. I think it would be negligent for him not too. And saying that the NBA "can't survive" in America and is in its death throes is a gross overstatement - franchise values continue to increase and no owner is pleading poverty, despite the perceived woes.
...and this "untapped market" is going to make him how much money? Let's face it, the only time another country pays attention to the NBA is when it's one of their countrymen or a top echelon NBA star involved, and the NBA already capitalizes on that with jersey sales. Holding training camp over in Europe might make a temporary dent in the NBA interest internationally, but in the long term, I don't see it working. Stern is putting the American fans, the fans that made the NBA popular, the fans that spend millions to go to NBA games, on the back burner. Ignoring your largest consumer group just doesn't seem to make much sense to me
The NBA is successful in the US when it has dueling marketable superstars in big markets - Shaq, Jordan, Magic, Bird - that's not anything that Stern can do much about - what is he supposed to do, get Duncan to dye his hair blond or move the Pistons to New York? have Rasheed Wallace remove his tatoos because they alienate white suburbanites? I don't think Stern having a few focus groups instead of going abroad is going to change much here, either. I watched a lot of regular season NBA basketball this year a large part of hte time via coolstreaming from CCTV5 - I'm pretty sure the NFL or MLB would love to have that kind of exposure to a 1.2 billion person market, but they won't anytime soon. As a businessman - it's really a no-brainer that he is trying to build the brand overseas.
AWESOME!! I'm going to be in Milan from September 1st until December 27th. Since Milan has a pretty big basketball program, I'm sure one of the games will be played there.
I wonder how long it will be before a good chunk of regular season games will be played somewhere else.
I would think a very long time. They may play a couple of games in a foreign city, but I don't see the owners tolerating losing the turnstile dollars in their own arenas. And, think of the season tickets, the suites; they're not giving that up.
