Influx Of Stars Have Turned The NBA Into Big Hit In Europe

One could easily make the argument that the NBA’s four best players come from outside the United States, which stands in stark contrast to the league of yesterday, where American stars far and away dominated the league’s landscape.

Luka Dončić (Slovenia), Nikola Jokić (Serbia), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) are three of those players, with Joel Embiid, originally from Cameroon and holding French and US citizenship to boot, is the fourth.

All four are deep in this year’s MVP race, and collectively, they have captured the imagination of NBA fans in Europe, where interest is skyrocketing.

With NBA All-Star Weekend in Utah underway, and once again consisting of numerous European players – including Finnish forward Lauri Markkanen from the Jazz who is acting as host at this year’s event – I had a chance to conduct a Q-&-A with Ralph Rivera, Managing Director of the NBA Europe Office about the league’s explosion of European talent.

How have European fan patterns changed since Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, and Giannis Antetokounmpo made it to the top of the league? Has the NBA seen changed behavior from fans in any substantial way? For example, in regards to merchandise spending, online activity, league pass?

“We are fortunate that some of the best players in the game today are European. MVP’s and perennial All-Stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić drive significant interest in their respective home countries, across the region and around the world, whether you look at content consumption, merchandise sales, attendance at our games and events, or participation in the sport. From a business perspective, 2022 was our strongest year ever in Europe, and that’s in large part due to the impact that European players are having in the league. For example, Europe has more League Pass subscribers than any other region outside North America, including 38% growth in subscriptions year-over-year. And we’ve seen a 47% and 17% year-over-year increase in League Pass subscriptions in Slovenia and Greece, respectively. Our television viewership in Serbia has grown 67% compared to the same period last year. And more than 9 million votes were cast from Europe for this year’s All-Star Game, which will feature a record 4 European starters. These are just a few examples of how world-class European players are fueling the incredible momentum around basketball and the NBA in the region right now.”

The league bought the rights to Victor Wembanyama’s games, clearly in an attempt to further drum up interest for a generational talent who’s coming into the league next year. This has never been done before, so could you perhaps talk a little about how that whole process came together?

“We created the NBA App to be an all-in-one destination for everything basketball, which includes showcasing top professional leagues around the world with prospective talent, like the LNB as well as the Basketball Africa League. We also share highlights from international competitions. As a projected top pick in this year’s draft, Victor Wembanyama has already garnered an incredible following in the U.S and around the world. We wanted NBA fans to get to know him better and familiarize themselves with his talent, and the response from fans has been incredible. The Metropolitans 92’s second game on the NBA App was the highest-performing non-NBA event of the season on the NBA App. Moving forward, we’ll continue to identify opportunities to showcase up-and-coming talent on the NBA App.”

There’s a good chance the NBA’s four best players, as well as their most prized rookie, will have European passports (Embiid is a wild card there, but given his French citizenship, he’s included). How will the NBA adjust to that in terms of game scheduling, as to maximize European viewership?

“We’re very focused on making our games and content accessible to European fans on the devices and platforms they use most, in the language they prefer, and at a time that is convenient for them. One of the main things we’ve done is schedule more weekend games that air in primetime in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (afternoon/evening ET), which has created appointment viewing for casual and hardcore fans in those regions. This season, 45 weekend games will air in primetime in EMEA as part of “NBA Saturdays and NBA Sundays presented by NBA 2K23,” marking the 10th^{consecutive regular season that we have scheduled weekend games that air in primetime in EMEA. Between widespread availability of our games and content through our broadcast partners, NBA League Pass, and the NBA App, there has never been a better time to be an NBA fan in Europe.”}

With the crop of European players having never been better, are there plans to have additional games played on European soil, as to further grow NBA interest on the continent?

“Global Games are an important part of our year-round efforts to engage our passionate fans, 99% of whom will never step foot in an NBA arena. We have played nearly 100 games in Europe, including last month’s regular-season game in Paris that sold out in less than 30 minutes. While we’d love to bring more games to Europe, we’re also mindful of the density of our schedule and the toll that international travel takes on players, especially during the regular season. But I have no doubt that as the level of European talent in the league continues to grow, we’ll continue to identify opportunities for fans in Europe to interact with their favorite teams and players, whether that’s through live games, interactive fan events, localized content, or authentic merchandise.”