Stern Sets Sights on Global Domination

February 29, 2008 by
Brian McCormick, CSCS  
Brian McCormick, CSCS
Brian McCormick, CSCS
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NBA Commissioner Seeks European Franchises

At the 2008 All-Star Extravaganza and Public Relations Weekend, NBA Commissioner David Stern reiterated his interest in establishing franchises in Europe. Since Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan saved the NBA in
 the eighties, Stern as focused on the game's globalization, and particularly the NBA brand. In late 2007, Stern made his move into China; Europe appears to be the next step.

After Stern's proclamation, CNNSI's Ian Thomsen wrote:

"European basketball needs the NBA. The arcane federations that run basketball in Europe have been unable to find common ground and grow their sport. European basketball is strictly minor league with little hope of becoming profitable, much less of challenging the popularity of soccer. The presence of the NBA would create new interest in basketball and elevate interest in the local leagues and clubs."

Thomsen and Stern miss the point, to a large degree. Thomsen criticizes European basketball because it is not profitable; but, for many in Europe, sporting clubs do not exist for profit. In Europe, to use parallels in the United States, the local YMCA, Parks and Recreation, high school, university and an NBA franchise would be under one entity. The goal in Europe is not to increase the club's value and never would a club move for greater profit, like with the Seattle Supersonics. The European club system and the NBA are incompatible; they exist for different reasons with different purposes.

Europeans enjoy the NBA for entertainment. Basketball fans see games and highlight shows on satellite or cable television. However, basketball people in Europe - at least in my experience - believe the basketball played in European leagues is better than that played in the NBA. The NBA is an entertainment-based league built around superstars, while Europeans appreciate the local clubs with local players battling against neighboring towns and cities. They root passionately for their own club, but watch NBA games like they watch the And1 Mix-Tapes.

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MLB teams had incentives to develop talent since they controlled the players they signed. Then MLB had Puerto Rico subject to the annual draft and teams no longer benefited from developing players. And because of that, Puerto Rico has virtually dried up as a source of MLB talent, surpassed by the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Columbia to name just three. If the NBA could pay money to develop its own stars (either nationally or internationally) they would have to spend more money initially but that would be made up for in talent produced and controlled. It would be better for a team to sign Dirk Nowizki at age 16 and have him develop than have to purchase his talents on the free agent market.
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Posted on 02/29/2008 at 2:02:19 PM

Lots of great stuff in here, too much to comment on but I do want to address one thing. It may be the smallest expenditure for the NBA to have AAU, HS and colleges develop their players but there is no way it is best for their bottom line. We can see an immediate parallel to a sport in this country if we look at amateur baseball. In most Latin countries, teams run their own academies and sign top prospects the day they turn age 16, two or perhaps five years earlier than they get them in this country. Latin stars dominate MLB, especially given the relative size of their countries compared to the US. Many years ago, Puerto Rico was one of the biggest hot beds for MLB talent. Robbie and Sandy Alomar, Carlos Baerga, Wil Cordero, Carlos Delgado, Jose Hernandez, Javy Lopez, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, Benito Santiago, Ruben Sierra, Jose Valentin and Bernie Williams all came from Puerto Rico in a seven-year period. MLB teams had incentives to develop talent since they controlled the
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Posted on 02/29/2008 at 1:02:37 PM

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