How the NBA is succeeding in making India fall in love with basketball
India, a predominantly cricket crazy nation with a population of over 1.2 billion has enjoyed yet another exhilarating week of sport. No, it’s not because they managed to beat the visiting South Africans by a mammoth 203 runs, or due to the thrilling performances from the boxers at the AIBA Women’s World Championships in Russia. But, it’s solely attributed to the fact that the National Basketball Association (NBA), held their first-ever basketball game in the South Asian country.
To onlookers, it may seem like a bolt from the blue, but the NBA has been trying to popularise the sport with the Indian fans for a number of years. The biggest challenge they’ve faced is the time difference between the United States and India – which led to a majority of the live games being shown at 6 and 9 am..
Obviously, rescheduling their games to cater to the Asian markets would see a loss in terms of viewership and advertising from Europe, whose players have often taken the journey west to play in the world’s greatest basketball league.
So, the NBA decided to tie up with the Reliance Foundation – a multinational conglomerate company – loosely responsible for turning sport into the money-making industry in India that is today. After having enjoying success promoting the cricket (Indian Premier League) and football (Indian Super League) competitions among many others, Reliance and NBA signed an agreement in 2013 to take basketball to an entirely new level.
And thus, to celebrate six years of what’s been an extremely fruitful relationship, the two decided to bring the NBA to India. A grand idea, which has been used with varying degrees of success in different sports, finally took shape in Mumbai where the Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings 132-131 in a thrilling overtime finish at the NSCI Dome on Friday.
Reliance’s Nita Ambani, who played a key role in making this a successful venture, said: “It’s my dream to see India become a truly multi-sport nation. Promoting education and sports in children is my mission and I hope to see India on the global sports pinnacle.”
Working together with the FIBA, the NBA is on the cusp of setting up a basketball league in Africa and could do the same in India as well. As per ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated that there is “serious consideration to the launch of a league.” The tournament will feature 12 teams and will follow a format similar to the one that commences in Africa next year.
Apart from bringing players to the subcontinent and setting up various academies in all corners of the country, the NBA has also encouraged a number of fan-engagement activities that have brought fans closer to their basketball heroes and for some, made them aware of the top athletes in the NBA.
Fans now are willing to spend for a sport that has one-tenth the popularity of cricket. For example, the cheapest tickets to Friday’s game were priced at ₹4,500 (£51.52) whereas you get the best seats in the house for the entire five days of next week’s test match between India and South Africa for a mere ₹5,000 (£57.24).
Starting a league akin to the IPL which runs in the NBA off-season could be an idea that fans get on board with. Given the heavy financial muscle Reliance has provided, it’s not implausible to see the likes of Steph Curry and LeBron James shoot hoops in India one day.
