The NBA has always been the pinnacle of basketball - and it has never been a more international league.
Superstars from around Europe such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic have won MVP honours whilst the likes of Luka Doncic and French draft prospect Victor Wembenyama are widely regarded as the league’s future. In many ways, it makes Ralph Rivera’s role as Managing Director of NBA Europe and Middle East an easy task.
“Basketball is a global game, and we’re a global brand,” he told Mirror Sport at the World Travel Market last month. “By definition, we’re global.
“Over 25% of our players are from outside the US, we have more NBA fans in China than we have in the US and the Philllippines, the percentage of people who love basketball there compared to the US is huge.
“Obviously now we have some of the top NBA basketball players here in Europe, the last four MVPs have been won by Europeans and, think about it, you have Giannis who has won back-to-back MVPs, Jokic has won back-to-back MVPs, you have Doncic, all these guys, then someone like Victor (Wembenyama) who is potentially an iconic player coming up as well.”
The global superstars now dominating the NBA in many ways mimic a chicken and egg scenario. They are proof that the league’s global plan is working, but also a key driving force behind continued success.
In the long run, it is all about ensuring the NBA continues to be far-reaching and make an impact across different countries, communities and areas.
“My objective is always, ‘how can the games be a catalyst for the growth of basketball and youth development and community development’,” Rivera explains.
“The games are sort of the tip of the iceberg to build out the rest of the basketball ecosystem.”
The next destination on the NBA’s radar was Abu Dhabi as the league headed to the Middle East for the first time in October. Two pre-season games between the Atlanta Hawks and the reigning champions, the Milwaukee Bucks, delivered plenty of excitement whilst the NBA took over Manarat Al Saadiyat throughout the week.
The trip was a long time coming but a learning curve which Rivera believes was a huge hit. Plans for the next slate of games in Abu Dhabi are already advanced and he reckons the work put in on a community and grassroots level will ensure the impact is long-lasting.
He explains: “It took us a while to finally get there because our conversations really started prior to the pandemic, but when we were looking at where we would go in the Middle East we quickly focused on Abu Dhabi because of everything it’s been able to do with respect to sports.
“Whether it be Formula One, UFC, WWE, Club World Cup, before that they had the Special Olympics there, so Abu Dhabi is a great partner because of their experience hosting big events with premium brands.
“Obviously all the infrastructure that’s in place in terms of the Etihad Arena and all the activities that someone coming to visit for the games can do a lot of things with their family, it all made it a great place and a great partner to do it with.
“Then its all about hosting the actual event itself, and from our perspective it was just amazing, better than we ever could’ve imagined. It was our first time, so you’re never quite sure, ‘what’s going to be the reaction, how’s it going to be received’, but it was just amazing.
“It wasn’t just the games, the games themselves were amazing, we had people come from 59 different countries and they were broadcast to over 200 countries, and the in-arena buzz and energy was amazing. But in addition to that, the fan engagement activities that we had were totally sold out, oversubscribed and there were all these youth development, grassroots activities we did that reached over 2,000 kids. That combination of the event and the buzz around it was great.”
Attentions now turn to a regular season game between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons taking place in Paris on January 19 and further plans to take games overseas. Mexico City hosted the Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs earlier this month and two pre-season games were also hosted in Japan.
Four years on from the Washington Wizards beating the New York Knicks by a point in London, Rivera says the UK remains on the NBA’s radar but attentions for the time being are on sharing the load around Europe.
“We’ll eventually come back here (to the UK),” he says. “I think we had a streak of about eight straight years when we were in the UK, so it was time to kind of share the love a little bit and move it to some other spots in Europe, because we only have one European game.
“But we’ll eventually come back, because the O2 is obviously a world-class arena and London is just a massive sporting destination in itself.”
There is, of course, huge competition for interest in the UK and elsewhere as America’s various big leagues branch out across the Atlantic. The NFL has made a huge commitment to games in London and is now hosting regular season games in Germany, whilst the MLB is bringing baseball back to the capital again in 2023.
However, Rivera insists it is a case of learning from how other sports engage fans rather than competing for attention.
“I wouldn’t consider it to be competitive, because I think its additive,” he says. "In the US, as an example, we go from sport to sport, season to season. So you have your basketball team, then you go into your baseball team, then your American Football team.
“So we don’t see it as competitive, per se, because we know people tend to have more than one sporting passion. We do learn from each other, so even in Abu Dhabi one of the things that we did is we attended Formula One in Abu Dhabi just to see the experience and how to engage with fans. You learn from all the different sports and their activations.”
The NBA also finds itself in a privileged position as a brand with close links to lifestyle and fashion without necessarily being accompanied by huge interest in basketball itself. It prides itself on offering entertainment even for casual fans without necessarily possessing a nuanced and in-depth interest in what is happening on the court.
Rivera says: “I think basketball is a global sport, and basketball itself is global in a way that soccer is global. The thing that differentiates the NBA beyond basketball is we look at ourselves as not just the competition, but entertainment then the lifestyle around basketball.
“I think that’s the differentiating aspect of the NBA vs basketball - you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy your experience at the game, at the arena. Kids that go there love being there even without knowing much about basketball. There’s pure joy and entertainment associated with it.
“Also, the NBA as a lifestyle brand, you have from a music or fashion perspective, people who are fans of the NBA who actually don’t play or even watch basketball but the lifestyle of the NBA resonates with them culturally.
“I think that’s one of the big differentiators for the NBA as a basketball league.”
