NBA Global Expansion: Plays Pre-Season Games in England, Builds Stadiums in China

by Jon Azpiri | October 14, 2008 at 11:47 am

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NBA Commissioner David Stern is looking to expand the league's global brand by playing exhibition games throughout Europe this week. During a press conference in London, Stern also announced plans of a joint venture with Anschutz Entertainment Group to design and develop 12 multipurpose arenas throughout China.

Stern was in London Sunday to watch the New Jersey Nets defeat the Miami Heat in an exhibition match at 02 Arena. In addition to London, pre-season NBA games are being played in Berlin, Paris, and Barcelona. Late last week, Stern suggested that London may someday host a regular season game.

"Although we have no plans on the drawing board, it has been suggested to us that we should schedule in the next three years or so some regular-season games here -- more than just one -- on some regular basis," Stern said before the New Jersey Nets-Miami Heat preseason game at the O2 Arena. "It's fair to say that we'll see a minimum of one and possibly more regular-season games by 2012."

Stern sees the Olympics as a springboard to increasing the NBA's marketability in Britain, which is one of the richest countries in the world.

The NBA commissioner also announced that the league will work with Anschutz Entertainment Group to build 12 multipurpose sports facilities in China, a country that has grown into one of the NBA's biggest markets.

Stern said at a joint news conference with AEG president and CEO Timothy J. Leiweke. "We anticipate that in a relatively short order we will have laid out a road map of a dozen buildings or so throughout China."

Leiweke said it could take decades to complete the project.

"We think of this over the next 20 years, not the next year or two," he said, adding some would be new arenas and others would be created by renovating existing facilities.

"You're going to see a combination," Leiweke said. "Most of them will be built and designed from the ground up."

Stern said he hoped the venture would not be affected by the global financial meltdown.

While the new stadiums won't be hindered the current financial crisis, the same can't be said about the NBA itself. Earlier this week, the league announced that it will be laying off 80 employees--approximately 9 percent of its workforce--due to global credit crunch.