Unfortunately i do not live in or even close to a city that is targeted.
But i am honestly not sure how much of a difference the NBA Europe will make compared to the existing competitions. More than 10 years ago, there was already an attempt at a closed European league that was a failure. It's not clear to me why they think this time it will work.
One thing that would move the needle could be broadcast rights. Right now in Europe I don't know if anyone at all in Europe watches broadcasts of the Euro League matches. It's just not popular to watch. If you are not watching live or on open air tv, I don't think anyone watches it.
Watching live basketball is also not that popular. Unlike football, nobody travels to watch a match unless hard core fans.
If the NBA managed to get people watching via a simple channel with good video coverage it might be more successful. But I think it would need to be almost for free for a few years to get people watching. But financially it would not be great for a while of course.
I think the NBA cannibalizing the European teams also does not help. I can see Parisians going to watch matches where Wemby plays but not if none of the players are household names.
So i really struggle to see it being a financial success without a huge marketing investment.
Forgot to say that average attendances of Euro League are below 10000 people and some clubs heavily skew the averages. So it would need a big uptake in live attendances to make the NBA Europe a success.
Love that context, thanks for chiming in! My outside understanding is that the league does think they can do a way better job of marketing. I know they also want to look at building/upgrading stadiums as a way to draw more fans at a higher price point, although that'll be a years-long project.
The broadcast stuff definitely seems problematic, I agree. I bet they just do a cheap League Pass version for a while, since they want to have a centralized broadcast hub in the USA operational soon, too, since all the local TV contracts are collapsing.
An interesting element is also that the cities chosen have bypassed some of the most crazy fanatical basketball environments. like in former Yugoslavia that has pretty successful teams in the Euro League. instead they awarded teams to places like London and Manchester that have zero basketball background. I have no idea where the attendance is going to come from in those cities, after the initial novelty effect.
Further, i think they did select one team for Athens, while Athens fans are viscerally split between Panathinaikos and Olimpiakos. I don’t know if the Athens team will be one of those two or a newly created one, but there is zero chance that the Olympiakos fans will support the Panathinaikos team and vice versa if one of them is selected. For places like Athens, i think the other half of them will simply turn its back on the selected team. I think it’s less dramatic for Milan, but it will also be an issue there.
That is interesting. I'm sure NBA has done their homework, but the cultural differences are vast in some ways that they might not be fully prepared for. I guess we'll see in a year!
Woof, it's just tricky without knowing the finances. I'm really not sure how many years left the Nuggets can call themsevles contenders though. The better asset play is to move Johnson for positive value and keep Braun, hoping he rounds back into form as a useful player. But I think if you're honest about maximizing title chances, you probably need to swallow hard and attach whatever needs to be attached to Braun's contract, move him, and keep Johnson and Watson.
That makes total sense, as much as I hate to agree with the closing contender window. I do think Braun could have a bounce back year with a healthy offseason restoring the confidence he seemed to lose last year. I'd also hate for the Nuggets to make the same exact mistake with Watson they did with Braun though, in giving him a huge contract based on a small sample size. We shall see!
Reader from Europe here.
Unfortunately i do not live in or even close to a city that is targeted.
But i am honestly not sure how much of a difference the NBA Europe will make compared to the existing competitions. More than 10 years ago, there was already an attempt at a closed European league that was a failure. It's not clear to me why they think this time it will work.
One thing that would move the needle could be broadcast rights. Right now in Europe I don't know if anyone at all in Europe watches broadcasts of the Euro League matches. It's just not popular to watch. If you are not watching live or on open air tv, I don't think anyone watches it.
Watching live basketball is also not that popular. Unlike football, nobody travels to watch a match unless hard core fans.
If the NBA managed to get people watching via a simple channel with good video coverage it might be more successful. But I think it would need to be almost for free for a few years to get people watching. But financially it would not be great for a while of course.
I think the NBA cannibalizing the European teams also does not help. I can see Parisians going to watch matches where Wemby plays but not if none of the players are household names.
So i really struggle to see it being a financial success without a huge marketing investment.
Forgot to say that average attendances of Euro League are below 10000 people and some clubs heavily skew the averages. So it would need a big uptake in live attendances to make the NBA Europe a success.
Love that context, thanks for chiming in! My outside understanding is that the league does think they can do a way better job of marketing. I know they also want to look at building/upgrading stadiums as a way to draw more fans at a higher price point, although that'll be a years-long project.
The broadcast stuff definitely seems problematic, I agree. I bet they just do a cheap League Pass version for a while, since they want to have a centralized broadcast hub in the USA operational soon, too, since all the local TV contracts are collapsing.
An interesting element is also that the cities chosen have bypassed some of the most crazy fanatical basketball environments. like in former Yugoslavia that has pretty successful teams in the Euro League. instead they awarded teams to places like London and Manchester that have zero basketball background. I have no idea where the attendance is going to come from in those cities, after the initial novelty effect.
Further, i think they did select one team for Athens, while Athens fans are viscerally split between Panathinaikos and Olimpiakos. I don’t know if the Athens team will be one of those two or a newly created one, but there is zero chance that the Olympiakos fans will support the Panathinaikos team and vice versa if one of them is selected. For places like Athens, i think the other half of them will simply turn its back on the selected team. I think it’s less dramatic for Milan, but it will also be an issue there.
That is interesting. I'm sure NBA has done their homework, but the cultural differences are vast in some ways that they might not be fully prepared for. I guess we'll see in a year!
Who would you choose if you were the Nuggets?
Woof, it's just tricky without knowing the finances. I'm really not sure how many years left the Nuggets can call themsevles contenders though. The better asset play is to move Johnson for positive value and keep Braun, hoping he rounds back into form as a useful player. But I think if you're honest about maximizing title chances, you probably need to swallow hard and attach whatever needs to be attached to Braun's contract, move him, and keep Johnson and Watson.
That makes total sense, as much as I hate to agree with the closing contender window. I do think Braun could have a bounce back year with a healthy offseason restoring the confidence he seemed to lose last year. I'd also hate for the Nuggets to make the same exact mistake with Watson they did with Braun though, in giving him a huge contract based on a small sample size. We shall see!