PARIS – If you’re an American-born NBA fan, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a waste of time for teams to play games on European soil while messing with their players’ internal biological clock. After all, why not stay the course and keep the National Basketball Association, well, national?
However, for European-born NBA fans, this is anything but a waste of time. Indeed, the league’s presence on the continent is vital to keeping interest in the region high and building the game.
“Playing games outside the U.S. and Canada is a critical part of the NBA’s year-round efforts to engage our passionate international fans, many of whom would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the excitement of a NBA game in person,” the NBA said. Europe and Middle East general manager George Aivazoglou told Yahoo Sports.
“While fans in Europe have 24-hour access to live NBA games, programming and content on the devices and platforms they use most, there is no substitute for the live NBA experience, reason for which we have played more than 215 games in more than 20 countries outside the US and Canada, including almost 100 in Europe.
Aivazoglou is right. As an NBA writer who has covered the league from Denmark for 17 years, it is absolutely necessary to see the league establish itself in Europe and put down deeper roots. Doing so creates more basketball fans, which in turn means more players and makes the NBA product more global.
This week the NBA Games in Paris are approaching. Two games will be played on Thursday and Saturday, both between the Indiana Pacers and, to no one’s surprise, the San Antonio Spurs, featuring French superstar Victor Wembanyama.
The event is marketed everywhere and rightly so. Near Accor Arena, with the game still more than 55 hours away, people took selfies with the NBA logo, which has been carefully planted in the concrete outside the venue.
Posters, both print and digital, heavily advertising the two games, adorned the car ride from Charles de Gaulle Airport during the roughly 40-minute drive to the bustling streets of Paris.
It makes sense for multiple reasons.
According to figures provided by the NBA to Yahoo Sports, the acquisition of Wembanyama has dominated the French market.
Not only are the Spurs the most-watched team in France, but since Wembanyama’s debut in 2023, viewership of Spurs games on NBA League Pass is +233% compared to a comparable number of games in seasons without he.
It underlines the importance of getting the star to French territory, according to Aivazoglou.
“These games and surrounding activities serve as a catalyst for the continued growth of the game in Europe at a time when basketball is the fastest growing sport in the region,” Aivazoglou said.
Let’s put aside the numbers, impact, growth, ratings and analytics for a moment. Because there is something else at play here.
He it feels genuinely important, and that feeling is everywhere, which means that is important.
The NBA is currently in its best era of basketball, and the vast majority of its biggest stars are international players, with a large number of those players being European. Nikola Jokić is the best player in all of basketball. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Dončić are not far behind. The aforementioned Wembanyama is closing in on the top five spot, if it isn’t already there.
By no means can anyone reject the premise that European interest is increasing, largely due to the representation of these talents. Not holding an annual match on the continent would be a total negligence.
Apparently, much to the enjoyment of people here, the league agrees. The Paris Games, and the London Games before them, also spark excitement within the league’s ranks, including teams, players and staff.
Some take the opportunity to bring family members and take advantage of it for a working vacation, creating memories that will last a lifetime.
Two years ago, when the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons were in Paris to play, several members of the Chicago group of writers and content creators referred to the trip as “once in a lifetime,” underscoring the importance from the visiting angle. US.
Ultimately, the NBA Paris Games represent what sports are all about: uniting across different cultures, beliefs and ideologies. These are, in part, reserved for the joint effort of celebrating the shared love of basketball.
City of Love, indeed.