The NBA will soon hold its first exhibition game in Africa.
Eventually, the continent could host regular-season games, a la the league’s annual contest in London, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.
Gerald Imray of the Associated Press:Although he didn’t give an exact time frame, Silver said a pre-season game and then a regular-season game on the continent was the logical progression for the NBA, which is on a ''fast track’’ to build a brand in soccer-crazy Africa.
''Part of why I’m here is to continue to investigate new facilities,’' Silver said. ''We would want a larger, more modern arena for a regular or pre-season game here. And it’s also to test the response here. These things just take time, but I’m very confident that in the not-too-distant future we will be playing, to begin with, a pre-season game on the continent of Africa.’'
The NBA probably isn’t far from putting a preseason game in Africa. Preseason games regularly occur across the globe – including Spain, China and Brazil this year.
It is interesting Silver brought up the arena issue. The NBA stands to make a lot of money by spreading its reach overseas. I hope the league would help pay for an arena it uses if it’s going to reap the financial rewards, not putting the full burden on a local government to build the arena, unless it’d be useful there otherwise.