Adam Silver Says NBA Is Considering European Expansion

[InspiredLebowski]

Expand to Seattle first! Or bring back home the franchise trapped in OKC backwaters.

NBA you owe us, B!tch.

The NBA exists to make money. Seattle told them to pay for their own building that would be a net loss with construction. Good for Seattle. Good for the actual city of Seattle.

I feel for diehard Sonics fans, but you weren't a majority. And after the shit they tried to pull on Sacto they need to get the **** over it. A shitload of Seattle assholes came out of the woodwork during that ordeal. Now they're just licking their lips hoping they can rip the hearts out of a Milwaukee fanbase and ignoring the complete hypocrisy of it all.

That small pocket of Seattle fans that are expansion or nothing, I salute you. The rest of you mother****ers that want to steal a franchise after all the SonicsGate fuss you raised, how your franchise was stolen, go to hell. Enjoy rooting for the Huskies and watching all your talented guards play in the NBA anywhere but home.

[Nero Tulip]

Pretty sure most players would rather live in London than Detroit.

[BoutPractice]

Yeah.
It's going to happen eventually, the key word here being eventually. Let's not forget for instance that they're working on a passenger jet that could do London-Sidney in only 4 hours.

[rustycage]

People here seem to concentrate on tv markets and flying issues, when the real problem is taxation, which is not even equal among European countries (this is, for instance, how Spanish soccer teams could afford to give players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Modric, Kak

[rustycage]

...and, by the way, players don't go/stay to/in Toronto not because of the city or because it's annoying to use a passport, but because of taxation.

[gabepizza]

In case you can't grasp it on your own, the TV market in Europe is much bigger than the one in USA, and it already watches way more Euroleague than NBA already, probably by about 5 to 1 at least already.

You do realize that a gigantic TV market in Europe would be available to watch the games in Europe right? Or do you think the entire TV viewing world only exists in the USA?

Also, believe it or not, there are many many clubs in Europe with enormous amounts of money. Not just Barca and Real. Do you actually believe that Prokhorov was the ONLY rich owner in the entire continent of Europe?

There are tons of clubs in Europe with billions upon billions of dollars.

Americans are so obsessed with USA being the center of the universe that they cannot even grasp reality. Europe is a bigger TV market, bigger sports market, it's a bigger population, it has bigger and richer clubs (with far bigger fan bases), none of what you are saying even makes sense.

The only obstacle to this would simply be the NBA deciding to do it. Financially, Europe is ahead in every single way and NBA would make more money in Europe.

The obstacle would be NBA American owners blocking it over fear they could never ever compete with the much much much richer owners in Europe.

And remember how European sports culture is...........there is no such things as a salary cap and it would never be allowed under EU law. So the teams in Europe and the owners in Europe could spend whatever they wanted to. And the big time owners in Europe are all Mark Cuban types, only most of them have way more money than he does.

BS. Give a link a it is just another one of your many many lies.

[kurt_rambis]

BS. Give a link a it is just another one of your many many lies.

it's probably technically true. what he doesn't mention is that nba games are usually on in the middle of the night in europe, so obviously less people are watching

[CanYouDigIt]

When did Euroscrub get banned?

[gabepizza]

it's probably technically true. what he doesn't mention is that nba games are usually on in the middle of the night in europe, so obviously less people are watching

5 to 1? I find that hard to believe. The NBA is big in Europe even because of the time difference and these days everyone has satelite

[KyleKong]

What the NBA should do to attract fans from Europe is by sending 4 to 6 teams to Europe for about a week maybe two weeks and play against each other in London, Paris, etc.

Just like what the NFL does in London every year.

Silver has got to be bat shit crazy if anyone thinks that players would want to travel back and forth across the World for their careers.

[kurt_rambis]

5 to 1? I find that hard to believe. The NBA is big in Europe even because of the time difference and these days everyone has satelite

it would depend on the country and what teams are playing, but 5 to 1 isn't as crazy as it seems. euroleague games are often transmitted in primetime and on broadcast tv. nba games are on at 2am on satellite. so comparing them is useless and it doesn't tell you anything about the popularity of the nba in europe

[Jameerthefear]

Euroleague is banned! Thank you Jeff <3