NBA Regular Season Games Overseas?

[Wasatch]

David Stern claims there will be regular season game played in London before the 2012 Olympic Games. This article also points out that regular season games have been played in Japan in the past when I no idea! Does anybody know who played in Japan and was it a successful event? I can?t imagine too many NBA fans here on American and Canadian soil would like their regular season games taken away from them, just so the league could cash in on European dollars. It?s bad enough that the league has guaranteed contracts, regardless of injury or lack of productivity!

Stern talks European expansion

London's O2 Arena

[Breakwood]

It's been done in the NFL, NHL and MLB. It's not like nobody saw this coming.

[Wasatch]

It's been done in the NFL, NHL and MLB. It's not like nobody saw this coming.

Even if it has, as an NBA fan who?s gone to a countless amount of games throughout my lifetime, it would bug me if one of my season ticketed games was pulled away and given to someone else. Sure I wouldn?t get charged for that game but Home Games are for Home Fans, not Foreign Fans!

[NEW.ERA]

If there is one league that will expand to Europe it's the NBA the support around the world is massive more so then any of the other big four.

[Wasatch]

If there is one league that will expand to Europe it's the NBA the support around the world is massive more so then any of the other big four.

I still don?t see how that can logistically be done with the scheduling and travel. You?d have to schedule the European teams out on the road for 10-15 games at a time, maybe even more if they?re playing teams on the West Coast, which would obviously put them at a great disadvantage!

[NEW.ERA]

I agree I think were still 15-20 years away or more from even having teams across the Atlantic or Pacific, Europe & Asia have leagues and that should be it the exhibition games or a few regular season games is fine just keep the teams here.

The NBA is a North American league and should and always will be but as long as David Stern is around it's always going to be a topic of discussion.

[jkrdevil]

Travel isn't going to the obstacle to European expansion, the difference in laws will be.

[DustDevil61]

Oh, please no. At least not actual franchises setting up shop across the pond. If they want to do what the NHL does with season openers, then fine, go and do it. If they (hypothetically) let financially struggling teams like the Grizzlies, Kings, etc. move to Europe full-time, however, then that would hurt their revenue both ways (for both N. American teams and European teams, in terms of travel costs).

I don't want to start a tangent, but I feel (one way or another) that the Seattle/Memphis/Sacramento situations (i.e.: filling in the void left by the Sonics, etc.) need to be resolved before the league even starts making long-term plans for teams playing full-time outside of North America.

[The_Admiral]

I sure hope this is like the NHL's overseas games, where they play in front of a less-than-capacity crowd at a substandard arena with about as much excitement as a seminar on potato farming with a broken PowerPoint remote. That's exactly what this league needs.

[Breakwood]

I sure hope this is like the NHL's overseas games, where they play in front of a less-than-capacity crowd at a substandard arena with about as much excitement as a seminar on potato farming with a broken PowerPoint remote. That's exactly what this league needs.

The crowd's may be less than capacity, but how is that different than 2/3rds of the leagues? The arena's that are used are just as modern as many of the arenas in North America.

Helsinki

Stockholm

Cologne

Prague

[dfwabel]

David Stern claims there will be regular season game played in London before the 2012 Olympic Games. This article also points out that regular season games have been played in Japan in the past when I no idea! Does anybody know who played in Japan and was it a successful event? I can?t imagine too many NBA fans here on American and Canadian soil would like their regular season games taken away from them, just so the league could cash in on European dollars. It?s bad enough that the league has guaranteed contracts, regardless of injury or lack of productivity!

Stern talks European expansion

Since you apparently failed to find your answer in the past 24 hours, it has occurred twice. In 1990, your Utah Jazz opened the season with two games against Phoenix in Tokyo (Memorial Gym). The Timberwolves and Kings opened the 1999 season at the Tokyo Dome. The NBA scheduled more Japan games in 2001, but canceled due to the events of Sept. 11th. Thee have been 13 NBA regular season games which did not take place in either in Canada or the U.S.A.

[The_Admiral]

I sure hope this is like the NHL's overseas games, where they play in front of a less-than-capacity crowd at a substandard arena with about as much excitement as a seminar on potato farming with a broken PowerPoint remote. That's exactly what this league needs.

The crowd's may be less than capacity, but how is that different than 2/3rds of the leagues? The arena's that are used are just as modern as many of the arenas in North America.

Helsinki

Stockholm

Cologne

Prague

In Helsinki, they converted a 200x100 rink to 200x85 and had a lot of bad sightlines as a result. There was a big awkward space between the front row and the boards. I don't see why the Blackhawks had to play in front of 11,000 people in Helsinki when they could've played in front of 20,000 people in Chicago. I hope they were well-compensated.

[Saintsfan]

Travel isn't going to the obstacle to European expansion, the difference in laws will be.

I don't quite get that point, given that college basketball has different rules from the NBA. The new team would be a part of the NBA and would play according to NBA rules. More than likely the new teams would have a good amount of American players.

I do think travel is an issue though. Personally I can't see how European expansion is viable at the moment. I could see perhaps a team having a base in the UK say, and play perhaps 10 games in a season at the O2, for instance. But to play 41 games in the UK (or elsewhere in Europe), and then 41 across the Atlantic in the US, that seems unworkable.

What I will guarantee is that an NBA match in the UK would be a sell out (as the NFL games have been) and would have a huge atmosphere.

[dfwabel]

Travel isn't going to the obstacle to European expansion, the difference in laws will be.

I don't quite get that point, given that college basketball has different rules from the NBA. The new team would be a part of the NBA and would play according to NBA rules. More than likely the new teams would have a good amount of American players.

I do think travel is an issue though. Personally I can't see how European expansion is viable at the moment. I could see perhaps a team having a base in the UK say, and play perhaps 10 games in a season at the O2, for instance. But to play 41 games in the UK (or elsewhere in Europe), and then 41 across the Atlantic in the US, that seems unworkable.

What I will guarantee is that an NBA match in the UK would be a sell out (as the NFL games have been) and would have a huge atmosphere.

I do not believe that he was talking about laws as in "FIFA Laws of the Game", rather laws as in "EU Laws for employing non-citizens" and issues regarding income taxes.

[Saintsfan]

Travel isn't going to the obstacle to European expansion, the difference in laws will be.

I don't quite get that point, given that college basketball has different rules from the NBA. The new team would be a part of the NBA and would play according to NBA rules. More than likely the new teams would have a good amount of American players.

I do think travel is an issue though. Personally I can't see how European expansion is viable at the moment. I could see perhaps a team having a base in the UK say, and play perhaps 10 games in a season at the O2, for instance. But to play 41 games in the UK (or elsewhere in Europe), and then 41 across the Atlantic in the US, that seems unworkable.

What I will guarantee is that an NBA match in the UK would be a sell out (as the NFL games have been) and would have a huge atmosphere.

I do not believe that he was talking about laws as in "FIFA Laws of the Game", rather laws as in "EU Laws for employing non-citizens" and issues regarding income taxes.

That does make more sense

And that would be a big issue. I still think at the moment travel makes the plan unworkable irrespective of tax issues. I think if the NBA wanted a European franchise badly enough and the EU saw financial or other benefits of it, some kind of deal would be worked out on legal issues.

[Wasatch]

Oh, please no. At least not actual franchises setting up shop across the pond. If they want to do what the NHL does with season openers, then fine, go and do it. If they (hypothetically) let financially struggling teams like the Grizzlies, Kings, etc. move to Europe full-time, however, then that would hurt their revenue both ways (for both N. American teams and European teams, in terms of travel costs).

I don't want to start a tangent, but I feel (one way or another) that the Seattle/Memphis/Sacramento situations (i.e.: filling in the void left by the Sonics, etc.) need to be resolved before the league even starts making long-term plans for teams playing full-time outside of North America.

I completely agree! The league doesn?t quite seem complete without a franchise up in the Seattle area.

David Stern claims there will be regular season game played in London before the 2012 Olympic Games. This article also points out that regular season games have been played in Japan in the past when I no idea! Does anybody know who played in Japan and was it a successful event? I can?t imagine too many NBA fans here on American and Canadian soil would like their regular season games taken away from them, just so the league could cash in on European dollars. It?s bad enough that the league has guaranteed contracts, regardless of injury or lack of productivity!

Stern talks European expansion

Since you apparently failed to find your answer in the past 24 hours, it has occurred twice. In 1990, your Utah Jazz opened the season with two games against Phoenix in Tokyo (Memorial Gym). The Timberwolves and Kings opened the 1999 season at the Tokyo Dome. The NBA scheduled more Japan games in 2001, but canceled due to the events of Sept. 11th. Thee have been 13 NBA regular season games which did not take place in either in Canada or the U.S.A.

Yeah, did a little research but nothing in great detail.

Thanks for the information though. I wonder if they received any backlash from the fans about those games being played elsewhere.

I do think travel is an issue though. Personally I can't see how European expansion is viable at the moment. I could see perhaps a team having a base in the UK say, and play perhaps 10 games in a season at the O2, for instance. But to play 41 games in the UK (or elsewhere in Europe), and then 41 across the Atlantic in the US, that seems unworkable.

EXACTLY!