<div class="quote_poster">phunDamentalz Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">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.</div> (1) They might not be united into a single superleague, but they do have a tournament at the end of the season comprised of the best teams in all the leagues (similar to UEFA's Champions League), so there is some type of connection between them. (2) They may not have NBA level marketing, but they have already built significant ties to the communities that they play in. That would be the biggest challenge for the NBA, IMO. The article suggests that a businessman wants to set up a seperate league with a team in Madrid (a city that already has a team). If this is a "minor-league to the NBA," as some have suggested, how is it possible for teams to lure away fans who already complain about the lack of stability in Euroleague rosters? (3) In terms of funding, these teams are already making enough money to offer players salaries that keep them away from the NBA. They may not have NBA style facilities (I'm not sure about that), but that's because they don't play an NBA-style game. This brings up another interesting question for me: Does the NBA institute international rules or NBA rules? If this is going to be a minor league of sorts for the pros, you'd think they'd want NBA rules. That might not cater as well to European fans. I understand what you're saying about the untapped markets in Europe. And there's definitely an interest in basketball there. I'm just skeptical of both the intentions of the NBA and the logistics of creating a league there. Everyone's already mentioned the problems of setting up an NBA team there. If you're trying to create a full-fledged professional league there, then you're taking away potential players from the NBA and there's really a small chance that you could compete full-out with the Euroleagues already in place. And if you set up a minor league team, you have to wonder how many places you can set up a team, what will entice quality players to join it, what will lure away Euroleague fans, and where the NBDL's place is in all of this.
I agree with Chutney. If the NBA's Euroleague would consist of top-notch NBA stars, it would definitely have a lot more star power and it would no doubt become the most popular basketball league in Europe. However, almost every NBA fan is not familiar with mid-major college standouts and training camp invitees. When you put this up against homegrown talents that the local fans have grown fond of and feel more of a connection with, the local leagues will win. You could say that the NBA's Euroleague can sign the top European talents away from their domestic teams, but how much funding would the NBA Euro teams have? Can they afford to pay salaries more than $1 million?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Arizona Republic - A day after listening to Real Madrid initially propose the possibility of a future five-team European division, NBA Commissioner David Stern repeated that the scenario is doubtful. Europe does not have NBA-type arenas besides the one in which the Suns will play in Cologne, Germany, next week and there is a question about whether finding investors for $400 million-plus teams would be a problem. "The one thing you will find is that we at the NBA are very polite," said Stern, who sat in the front row next to Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver for Friday's game. "If someone wants to take a meeting, we'll take a meeting. And if they want to make a proposal, we will listen to their proposal. So we'll see."</div> Source Well I guess that clears this whole thing up.
what about a seperate euro-nba and then the winner of the euro-nba and the nba play a series against each other at the end or maybe in pre-season?That would be cool...I really like the matches in europe so far,u can really see the difference between the playing styles..
<div class="quote_poster">daam81 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">what about a seperate euro-nba and then the winner of the euro-nba and the nba play a series against each other at the end or maybe in pre-season?That would be cool...I really like the matches in europe so far,u can really see the difference between the playing styles.. </div> That would be a good idea, its somthing the English Rugby League competition (Super League) and the Australian Rugby League competition (NRL) have implemented into the Rugby League calender, and that is the winners of both competitions play each other at the end of the year (after both seasons are finished mind you). Even if the NBA bought out the current Euro League, and revamped it as the NBAE (National Basketball Association Europe) or somthing along those lines. I'm not sure how that current league is doing, but under the NBA tag, it would attract more international notoriety I'm sure.
I think this would work as long as the nba took it seriously. You can't bring in the nfl because football isnt popular anywhere else in the world really. If the nba actually drafter these players, and invited them to camp at a consistent basis, i could see it becoming the biggest league in europe talent wise. All the really skilled players from Europe would definately want to play there imo. Funding may be a problem though.
I'd like to see a Euro conference. At the end of the year the champion team of the U.S. conferences plays champion Euro conference team and then the winner is truely the World Champion.
It wouldn't be a bad idea of having the NBA Europe league champs play the NBA Finals champs at the end of the season to have like the World NBA champions or something lol. Including a full season w/ Europe is crazy.
