Author Topic: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League  (Read 12606 times)

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Offline Moranis

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/17/africa/nba-africa-basketball-league/index.html

Seems like a good way to create a pipeline to an underdeveloped basketball region.  Hopefully it works out.
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Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2019, 12:24:31 PM »

Online Roy H.

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I think it’s a great thing, and not because it will eventually lead to more NBA players. Any investment and opportunity for these kids could really change their lives. I hope that it expands to include even younger kids, bringing them education and better alternatives than they have already.


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Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2019, 12:35:43 PM »

Offline CelticsElite

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco

Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2019, 02:31:23 PM »

Offline Ogaju

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lol .... the travel will be horrendous.

Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2019, 03:29:40 PM »

Offline Kuberski33

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco
Well the NBA basically subsidizes the WNBA and that league has been around for a long time.  They'll probably subsidize this as well but this league will provide a pipeline for future talent so it's going to be money well spent.  I'm guessing it may provide some off season programming as well for the NBA channel or possibly ESPN+.


Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2019, 03:35:16 PM »

Offline CelticsElite

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco
Well the NBA basically subsidizes the WNBA and that league has been around for a long time.  They'll probably subsidize this as well but this league will provide a pipeline for future talent so it's going to be money well spent.  I'm guessing it may provide some off season programming as well for the NBA channel or possibly ESPN+.
I get where you're coming from

If you can get 1 embiid type player every 8 or so years then the league will pay for itself. That's not a bad test. I'm not sure how many embiids there are left in Africa but we will see. I think there may be a few ibakas

Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2019, 03:57:33 PM »

Offline fairweatherfan

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco
Well the NBA basically subsidizes the WNBA and that league has been around for a long time.  They'll probably subsidize this as well but this league will provide a pipeline for future talent so it's going to be money well spent.  I'm guessing it may provide some off season programming as well for the NBA channel or possibly ESPN+.
I get where you're coming from

If you can get 1 embiid type player every 8 or so years then the league will pay for itself. That's not a bad test. I'm not sure how many embiids there are left in Africa but we will see. I think there may be a few ibakas

Left? You know people tend to make new people pretty often, right?

The value is less about discovery, though that's part of it, and more about development so the talented guys aren't as raw and can stay closer to home instead of having to adjust to American colleges or European pro teams or wherever. And on the league end of course trying to get more fans in Africa. They'd be happy to take a loss on the African league if it sells more merchandise/ups international ratings for the NBA itself.

Offline LatterDayCelticsfan

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco

Quite a few actually, Enough that South African Pay TV service Multichoice has been able to develop legit one of the biggest network of sports channels in the world in Supersport, entirely on African viewership. I would imagine they would have the financial muscle and reach to make the concept work.
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Offline LatterDayCelticsfan

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And the start of the league has been put off by Corona virus.
Banner 18 please 😍

Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2020, 11:15:32 PM »

Offline LatterDayCelticsfan

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Should I be happy Tacko Fall got minutes in the Afrobasket qualifiers for Senegal, or upset they came in a win against my home country Kenya?
Banner 18 please 😍

Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #10 on: November 26, 2020, 12:29:53 AM »

Offline Somebody

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco
Well the NBA basically subsidizes the WNBA and that league has been around for a long time.  They'll probably subsidize this as well but this league will provide a pipeline for future talent so it's going to be money well spent.  I'm guessing it may provide some off season programming as well for the NBA channel or possibly ESPN+.
I get where you're coming from

If you can get 1 embiid type player every 8 or so years then the league will pay for itself. That's not a bad test. I'm not sure how many embiids there are left in Africa but we will see. I think there may be a few ibakas

Left? You know people tend to make new people pretty often, right?

The value is less about discovery, though that's part of it, and more about development so the talented guys aren't as raw and can stay closer to home instead of having to adjust to American colleges or European pro teams or wherever. And on the league end of course trying to get more fans in Africa. They'd be happy to take a loss on the African league if it sells more merchandise/ups international ratings for the NBA itself.
To be fair it's not like people tend to churn out 7 foot gods pretty often :laugh:
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Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #11 on: November 26, 2020, 02:16:50 AM »

Offline kraidstar

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Should I be happy Tacko Fall got minutes in the Afrobasket qualifiers for Senegal, or upset they came in a win against my home country Kenya?

Easy answer.

If you aren't loving Tacko Time then you aren't really living.

Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #12 on: November 26, 2020, 04:23:20 AM »

Offline gouki88

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco
Well the NBA basically subsidizes the WNBA and that league has been around for a long time.  They'll probably subsidize this as well but this league will provide a pipeline for future talent so it's going to be money well spent.  I'm guessing it may provide some off season programming as well for the NBA channel or possibly ESPN+.
I get where you're coming from

If you can get 1 embiid type player every 8 or so years then the league will pay for itself. That's not a bad test. I'm not sure how many embiids there are left in Africa but we will see. I think there may be a few ibakas
The 2020 draft alone had 3 players from Nigeria. That isn't even considering guys like Okoro (Nigerian-American), Okongwu (Nigerian-American), or Oturu (Nigerian-American). There is a mountain of physical talent in Africa, they just need the guiding hand.

Also have no idea what American viewership has to do with anything.
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Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #13 on: November 26, 2020, 05:00:51 AM »

Online Kernewek

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco

Television exists in Africa, and just like everywhere else, they love sport. Millions of Africans watch the World Cup every year.

Obviously football is massive compared to basketball, but clearly there is an enthusiastic viewership which will only grow with more players appearing at the highest level of the sport.
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Re: NBA Coming to Africa creating 12 team league - Basketball Africa League
« Reply #14 on: December 05, 2020, 02:10:42 AM »

Offline ozgod

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Can't see it working out. No one in America watches euro ball and that is where talent is

So we can count America out as viewers. Who is left? Most Africans have  a Tv excluding places like south Africa or morocco

Television exists in Africa, and just like everywhere else, they love sport. Millions of Africans watch the World Cup every year.

Obviously football is massive compared to basketball, but clearly there is an enthusiastic viewership which will only grow with more players appearing at the highest level of the sport.

What's interesting is in developing countries in Africa and Asia, many people have bypassed the television, and cable, and those traditional ways of consuming media and are now consuming content on their phones. They have cellphone towers everywhere and data plans, people don't need TVs or cable when they can view things on their phones on demand. Much cheaper all around. They may not always have TVs in remote villages or follow the typical media path that consumers in developed countries do but even the poorest people have smartphones - usually cheaper Chinese ones like Huawei. It's an interesting space that China has been filling.

And as you say millions of Africans watch not just the World Cup, but the African Nations Cup, and World Cup qualifiers in the CAF region. CAF has 56 members all in Africa. Then at club level most African nations have a local soccer league, and the winners of those leagues compete in the CAF Champions League, where the winner of that league then completes in the World Club Challenge. The blueprint is there, soccer created it already. Here are the media broacasters covering the African Champions League (where global viewership for the entire tournament is in the billions):



There's an entire world of consumers out there, outside our country, just waiting to be tapped.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2020, 02:23:35 AM by ozgod »
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