The NBA in Europe…..?
February 13th, 2008 . by Stankoniforous One
David, guess you didn’t catch my warning to Rog did ya? Don’t try to outdo Rog, ok? Just because the NFL played a lil game in London, doesn’t mean the NBA needs to set up shop there. Commish, you have to pretty much ban these grown @ss men from going to the Netherlands, nah mean? Legal hookers, legal drugs, and multimillionaires are a recipe for catastrophe. That’s not the only problem.
Scheduling. To have a Eurotrash division, 5 teams will not cut. To have a team fly at least 5 hours to play 5 teams is a waste of time. What about west coast teams going to Europe? Also with 5 extra teams does that kick up the number of regular season games? Imagine an intercontinental Spurs rodeo road trip? Intercontinental NBA Finals? Let’s say this happens and in 2013 its Utah vs. Berlin? Murderous!
Pricing. NBA tickets are not cheap, even for nosebleed seats. You of all people should know that. Will Europeans front the cake? Right now the euro is strong vis-a-vis the dollar, but that won’t last forever.
Popularity. Basketball is not that popular in Europe, about on par with soccer (football) in America. Is there the interest level to sustain the NBA in Europe? Don’t forget NFL Europe folded as well.
Players. NBDL, supplemental draft, or Euroball? Commish, you know the Euro league will fight this tooth and nail. The NBA in Europe is effectively the end of the Euro league.
Commish, if this happens please don’t turn the Eurotrash division into the WNBA of Europe. Not sure Stank-0 can handle anymore ridiculous slogans pushed down my throat in the midst of a heated NBA game.
cross posted here.
utah vs. berlin… that would be so cool. like wwII all over again
I actually like the idea, I think it would pretty cool if it worked out, something to bring different countries together.
BUT that doesn’t mean it will work. It seems that mostly whether or not it will work would be dependent on the European fans.
One more point to tack on-
The comparison to NFL Europe isn’t valid, as the NFL Europe was intended to be a developmental league, and a large part of the reason that it failed was because of the lack of talent of everyone playing there.
The NBA proposal here is unique, as they would have real professional-caliber teams playing there, hopefully on par with the American teams. And the rivalry amongst European teams if it caught on could be potentially huge, which I could see capturing a fan base over there.
Stank-0 through in NFL Europe to show that some things don’t translate well on the other side of the pond.
i gotta go with matt on this one. the thing is, American football isn’t popular outside of North America. They were trying to introduce a *new* game to Europeans.
Basketball is already popular in Europe (just look at the influx of European players in the NBA in the last 10 years). I know its not as popular as soccer, but it’s more popular than the NFL.