BARCELONA, Spain -- An all-Europe division of the NBA -- with teams in cities such as Madrid, London, Moscow, Berlin and Cologne -- has been a fantasy for basketball fans on this side of the Atlantic for a number of years. That fantasy may have taken the first step toward reality in Barcelona this week when NBA Commissioner David Stern received an informal proposal from a delegation of mighty Spanish sporting club Real Madrid that could lead to five NBA expansion franchises one day being placed in Europe. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2614550
yeah i just read this on espn. I think it would be pretty cool to expand the nba into other countries. How far are they away though? I'm not sure if the players would like it.
The two leagues will be separate I am almost positive. To travel from say Houston to Barcelona? That's a 9 or 10 hour flight right there. Not to mention a 7-hour time difference (!) Players would literally be nodding off on the bench.
I think this would be a good idea, its nothing but good for the game each way you look at it. The only problem is as antonyo09 said, wether or not players would be willing to travel that far reguarly.
The article is kind of vague but if they're talking about making a European division within the NBA then that is a TERRIBLE idea. Can you imagine flying from California to Spain? How about in a playoff series where you've got to go back and forth? Players wouldn't like living in Europe either I don't think. But if it's a separate league in Europe then it sounds like a good idea. Might be undercutting FIBA a bit though and even the NBA's own D-League since alot of players who can't make the NBA go to Europe instead of the D-League to get more money.
I'd hate to be in the eastern conference then... Seriously though, I don't think this will ever go through with the means of travel we have today. You can't be flying back and forth from North America to Europe without getting some serious sleeping disorders.
That would be cool. Having more teams, and more fun. And NBA would expand around the world. More fans. But the only bad thing about is the traveling. NBA players would have to travel places like every week or so.
<div class="quote_poster">Bahir Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'd hate to be in the eastern conference then... </div> It's closer to europe for eastern conferece teams than western...
<div class="quote_poster">arre Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It's closer to europe for eastern conferece teams than western...</div> ...which is why I said what I did, since the WC teams would only have to face the Euro teams twice each...
It would be a lot more difficult to make that happen, than it looks. There's the obvious travel expenses/time, which will be ridiculous. And then you have to wonder how many players would willingly play in Europe. I mean, Toronto gets shunned a lot, and they speak the same language and basically have the same culture. Outside of England, Europe would be a major adjustment for players. Just seems like a pipedream to me. Like Toronto getting an NFL team or the US building a legit soccer league.
I don't like it. It would make things way to complicated, the time differences and everything, it would be hard for fans from both ways to catch games, and not to mention the stress on players.
Well I think if its going to be a seperate league, much like the NFL has 'NFL: Europe', then I say go for it, although I think adding European teams to the actual NBA wouldnt be a bad idea (as I said, it would be good for the game either way), it would be tough to play those games as some of you guys have already mentioned. A seperate European league I can see happening, European teams in the NBA, I dont see happening.
<div class="quote_poster">hustler Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't like it. It would make things way to complicated, the time differences and everything, it would be hard for fans from both ways to catch games, and not to mention the stress on players.</div> duh. they're not going to expand to Europe, just create a NBA type system in Europe and set up franchises. The MINIMUM time difference would be 5 hours, the MAXIMUM would be 11 or 12??? So obviously they are not combining the two. I said this above, but nobody read it.
The only thing I don't like about the idea are the flights. Unless you've been to Europe and back to the US/Canada you don't know how horrible all that flying is in the end.
Not sure about setting up a seperate league, either. NFL Europe has been a monumental failure, for the most part and, if I remember correctly, it was only created because the CFL (Canadian Football League) didn't want to become its minor league. I'm not completely sure how Europeans would feel about this (M Two One and Laker_fan could give better insight), but I think European basketball fans would have more of an attachment to the Euroleagues. I can't see them sticking around with teams that will inevitably lose their best players to the NBA, if they know a better quality product is already there. And what sort of incentive would this league have to lure highly paid Euroleague players away? IMO, this is a knee-jerk reaction by the NBA to the sudden trend of International players snubbing the NBA for bigger paychecks in Europe. Maybe he's bluffing to spark some talk between both leagues. What the NBA should be working on his hammering out some sort of consistent standard for buyouts, similar to what the NHL's been doing with all the European Hockey Leagues (that aren't Russian).
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Not sure about setting up a seperate league, either. NFL Europe has been a monumental failure, for the most part and, if I remember correctly, it was only created because the CFL (Canadian Football League) didn't want to become its minor league. I'm not completely sure how Europeans would feel about this (M Two One and Laker_fan could give better insight), but I think European basketball fans would have more of an attachment to the Euroleagues. I can't see them sticking around with teams that will inevitably lose their best players to the NBA, if they know a better quality product is already there. And what sort of incentive would this league have to lure highly paid Euroleague players away? IMO, this is a knee-jerk reaction by the NBA to the sudden trend of International players snubbing the NBA for bigger paychecks in Europe. Maybe he's bluffing to spark some talk between both leagues. What the NBA should be working on his hammering out some sort of consistent standard for buyouts, similar to what the NHL's been doing with all the European Hockey Leagues (that aren't Russian).</div> I grew up in Ireland and go back there a lot I think I can speak for the UK as well - it would be awesome to have a league system in Europe with a London team. I think other cities could support a team too including Birmingham Manchester and Dublin (maybe).
i doubt it would happen other than the reason with traveling, they may also be scared of terrorists, since middle eastern countries are close to europe, idk im just throwing an example out of why it mite not work
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting phunDamentalz:</div><div class="quote_post">I grew up in Ireland and go back there a lot I think I can speak for the UK as well - it would be awesome to have a league system in Europe with a London team. I think other cities could support a team too including Birmingham Manchester and Dublin (maybe).</div> England probably has quite a few places that would support a basketball team, but what are the chances that it expands as a truly European league? I mean, Italy and Spain are the big basketball markets and they already have several established teams. Then markets like Croatia, France (I think), and Greece all have a few teams as well. I don't know. If the NBA tries it, don't you get the feeling that it'll end up shrinking into a one-country league (similar to the NFL Europe in Germany)?
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">England probably has quite a few places that would support a basketball team, but what are the chances that it expands as a truly European league? I mean, Italy and Spain are the big basketball markets and they already have several established teams. Then markets like Croatia, France (I think), and Greece all have a few teams as well. I don't know. If the NBA tries it, don't you get the feeling that it'll end up shrinking into a one-country league (similar to the NFL Europe in Germany)?</div> Yeah but the questions are: 1) Are all the European leagues unified into one "superleague"? No. 2) Do they have NBA-level marketing money behind them? Probably not. 3) Do they have NBA-level facilties funding behind them? Probably not. There are several untapped markets. Paris and London alone are two of the biggest cities in the world, with metro areas rivaling NYC. Even though basketball is not soccer, you could definitely find some good attendance at places like that. I think once people watch it, there will be many converts, especially young kids. The ticket prices will have to start cheap compared to the U.S. as demand will be less, but I think it can and will definitely take off if given the chance. As far as the NFL comparison, imo NFL is not a good fit for Europe, as they already have rugby established which is too similar a game and does not stop the action every play. Plus their insistence on calling it "football" is insulting to Europeans, especially in these wary-of-America, especially Bush times. But basketball, it's all good.
The travel must be really hectic to travel from the U.S./Eastern Canada to Europe. I'm not fond of the idea.
