NBA sees sport's growth lagging behind potential in Europe

NEW YORK : The basketball business in Europe is far from living up to its potential, NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum told Reuters, as the league explores launching a new operation in the continent to take advantage of the sport's skyrocketing popularity.

Commissioner Adam Silver said last month that it was looking into launching NBA Europe with world basketball body FIBA as its partner, with the initial plan to have a 16-team league.

The league is intended to harness the explosive popularity of the sport in the continent, where Tatum said basketball is second only to soccer, as well as the deep pool of talent, with roughly 15 per cent of all NBA players today from Europe.

"There's an opportunity to continue to accelerate the growth of basketball in Europe and to close the gap between the affinity for the game of basketball and the commercial viability of basketball in that market as well," he told Reuters.

Organisers of the Euroleague, the continent's existing premier club competition, balked at the idea of a new league, however, and said the plans for a new European league amounted to a threat that could fragment the sport.

"Our goal is not to replace the Euroleague. Our goal is to create a commercially viable league that features high quality on-court competition and respects the rich tradition of European basketball. And we think that that will better serve fans and players on the continent," Tatum said.

"We've tried for years to bring all of the relevant stakeholders together and we remain open to doing so."

Tatum pointed to the lack of permanent Euroleague teams in key cities including London, Paris, Berlin and Rome, and said the investment that comes with a new league would help bring sorely needed basketball