The World Basketball Championship is over. The Spanish national team won gold medals, but the best basketball league in America won an informal victory. The triumph of the Spanish team was another PR action in favor of the basketball of the United States and its fans.
Business Project History
After the era of big stars passed in the NBA, Commissioner David Stern decided to bet on the idea of NBA International. And the league was flooded with foreigners, cool and not so. Basketball gradually turned into a product, or rather, into a beautifully packaged spectacle to be sold. And the NBA began its worldwide expansion.
The concept of the Dream Team, the American national team that won the Olympics in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney, was already outdated by then. And the players themselves were reluctant to go to the team. Many remember Shaquille O´Neill’s demarche, which did not go to the Sydney Games due to a change in the sponsor of the Olympic team. And eight years earlier, before the Games in Barcelona, he barely escaped friction with his sponsor, Michael Jordan. Thus, despite its potential, the American team was not able to gather the full complement not only because of the notorious family problems, but also because of the conflicts of the stars with the sponsors.
However, the commercial interests of the NBA in major international tournaments, such as the Olympics and world championships, are no longer limited only to the US team. The Japanese tournament eloquently confirmed this thesis. Especially if you compare it with previous world basketball forums.
Art preparation
Let’s try to analyze the mechanism of the American model of basketball production using the example of the 2006 World Cup, especially since this model acted in the usual mode on it, having been tested at the World Championships in Indianapolis and the Athens Olympics. By the way, the US team as such took 6th and 3rd places in these tournaments, respectively. At the current world championship, the American team also got the “bronze".
To begin with, work was carried out in the United States. As a result of this PR campaign, the intrigue of the upcoming championship has formed: America needs to be reminded of itself as a great basketball power. A student coach is traveling with the NBA players, for whom the NBA authorities are nothing. And finally, the basis of the team was the golden youth of the 2003 model, which a victory at such a prestigious tournament would be most welcome to maintain their own reputation among club fans.
Pressure on Europe began shortly before the opening matches of the world championship. The press of those American cities in whose teams foreign basketball players played began to vying to praise their virtues. In television programs dedicated to the NBA, there were stories about non-Americans playing in the league.
Japanese efforts
Success in the Japanese championship was especially expected from the national teams whose players played or are in the NBA. Therefore, the favorites of the championship were France, Argentina, Lithuania and, possibly, Germany, which, thanks to Dirk Nowitzki, successfully performed at the European Championships. By the way, the Nowitzki club “Dallas” in many respects through the efforts of the German reached the final of the NBA championship. Among these countries, only Germany remained undeveloped in terms of the NBA, but soon a tournament with the participation of the NBA teams will be held in Cologne as part of the NBAEurope program, so that Germany can be included in the priority list with peace of mind.
The American side was, to put it mildly, unprofitable for two teams from this list to clash in the final. Of course, you can build an advertising campaign on the stars of these countries, but the league needs new markets. And therefore, reaching the finals of the championship of Greece and Spain is a great success for the NBA, which won in a global sense, having conquered two more trading territories.
Here was the NBA
On the eve of the championship, the two teams that played in the final had only one NBA player - Pau Gasol. The Greeks did not have representatives of the overseas league at all. However, on the eve of the season, they announced their desire to play in the NBA, Jose Garbajosa and Juan Carlos Navarro. Jose Calderon tried his hand at Toronto last season, and now, of course, he will return there in a new status. Be that as it may, this time there will be more Spaniards “discovering America”. And the promotion of Spanish players overseas is now very welcome.
This is very similar to the situation two years ago, when an Argentine colony was formed in the NBA. After the South Americans won the 2004 Olympics finals, the NBA turned its attention to Argentina both as a supplier of basketball goods and as a country where capital can be exported. After the Athenian triumph, Manu Ginobili firmly established himself in the starting five of “San Antonio”, Andreas Nosoni won a place in the “Chicago”, Carlos Delfino got into the “Detroit”, which had just become the NBA champion, and after them Fabrice went to North America Wrapped up. Of the leaders of the Argentine national team, only Luis Skola has not yet thought about moving to the United States, although they are still waiting for him there.
I think a similar fate awaits the Spanish team, whose best players will also be in the NBA this year or in a year. In particular, in Calderon and Garbajos it is very convenient to build an advertising campaign for the Toronto Raptors team, which in the last championship suffered from insufficient game attendance. It is difficult to say how successful such a banal move will turn out to be, but the main thing is that the Spaniards are already in the NBA, and the NBA, in turn, conquers Spain. And this means NBA-TV, fan shops, promotions for league sponsors in the country, training camps, etc.
The Greek basketball market will soon be conquered. It is unlikely that the NBA will stop the defeat of the Americans from the Greeks in the semifinals or the inglorious loss of the Greeks of Spain in the final. So far, according to the NBA official website, only two Greek players belong to league teams. It is possible that the rights to Sofoklis Schorzanitis and Vassiliss Spanoulis will result in contracts with Clippers and Houston, respectively.
World Championship is over. The planet received a new basketball champion, and the NBA - a new field of activity. To each his own.
Dmitry DONSKOY