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NBA: Selling a whole new ball game.

Article Excerpt
The US passion for basketball has always left Britain and the rest of Europe cold - until now. The sport is gaining fans over here, and marketing it is as great a challenge as any championship. By Joe Fernandez

Not content with being huge in the US, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is eyeing international expansion as its next big challenge, aiming to create a large enough fan base to justify the creation of an NBA basketball league in the UK and make Brits huge fans of the slam-dunk phenomenon.

The company, which has an annual turnover of $4bn (#2.5bn), set up an office in the UK last year. Last week, sports channel ESPN signed a deal to broadcast 100 live basketball games and studio-based highlights shows, and the BBC will show shorter highlights online and broadcast on Radio 5 Live. This will include games shown at lunchtime on Sundays in the US, so that global fans can experience prime-time matches as they occur.

These are significant deals for the NBA. In the US, a domestic TV deal with networks ABC, ESPN and TNT to televise NBA games until the 2015/16 season is worth $7.5bn (#4.7bn). Its merchandise is already sold in more than 100,000 in 100 countries.

Sophie Goldschmidt, managing director of NBA EMEA, says the aim of the new broadcasting deals is to take the next steps...

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