Adam Silver: NBA on track to play regular-season games in Africa

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/30/adam-silver-nba-on-track-to-play-regular-season-games-in-africa/




Adam Silver: NBA on track to play regular-season games in Africa
Dan Feldman Jul 30, 2015, 11:22 AM EDT




The NBA will soon hold its first exhibition game in Africa.

Eventually, the continent could host regular-season games, a la the league’s annual contest in London, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.

Gerald Imray of the Associated Press:

Although he didn’t give an exact time frame, Silver said a pre-season game and then a regular-season game on the continent was the logical progression for the NBA, which is on a ”fast track” to build a brand in soccer-crazy Africa.

”Part of why I’m here is to continue to investigate new facilities,” Silver said. ”We would want a larger, more modern arena for a regular or pre-season game here. And it’s also to test the response here. These things just take time, but I’m very confident that in the not-too-distant future we will be playing, to begin with, a pre-season game on the continent of Africa.”

The NBA probably isn’t far from putting a preseason game in Africa. Preseason games regularly occur across the globe – including Spain, China and Brazil this year.

It is interesting Silver brought up the arena issue. The NBA stands to make a lot of money by spreading its reach overseas. I hope the league would help pay for an arena it uses if it’s going to reap the financial rewards, not putting the full burden on a local government to build the arena, unless it’d be useful there otherwise.



bob
MY NOTE:  For one thing, the taxpayers usually have a lot of skin in the game when it comes to building new arenas for pro teams so the franchisees don't cry 'poor mouth' and move the team to another city.  By moving regular season games to another continent that is directly impacting their investment and the revenues that come to business owners and the cities that are derived from attendance at those games.  Furthermore, think of the jet lag. Both of the teams playing in Africa (or Europe, or Asia) are going to be subpar for a week afterwards.  So, you could lose the game in Africa and then the next two games back in the States.  That's a pretty high price for fans to pay, who only care about their team winning, so that the league can increase TV viewership which makes money for the league, for the owners and for the players when the salary cap goes up with it.

Sometimes more isn't more, it's less.  I hope, like not changing the rule about intentional fouling, the Commish sees the wisdom of sticking with an already pretty damn good pat hand.


.

Would adding more teams to the NBA (whether U.S. or international) be more successful in adding to the NBA revenue stream or improving the quality of the game?

Just askin'.

Sam