Brian Windhorst, heavyweight of the American press and a basketball legend in ESPN, traveled to Belgrade recently to attend a Serbian Euroleague derby, the tumultuous Partizan-Red Starand ended up absolutely impressed by what he had experienced in a match in which Partizan won (79-76), before an ecstatic audience, after overcoming an 18-point deficit: “I was amazed, of course. From my point of view, and it may be exaggerated because I have had it very recently, It is one of the three most incredible basketball events I have ever witnessed. The other two would be the seventh game of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Warriors-Cavaliers in Oakland, and the Olympic final of the last Games, in Paris.” The journalist also assured that it was not just his opinion: “There were several Americans, NBA franchise executives who were doing their job as scouting. Everyone who makes those trips to Belgrade “He says it is the most intense thing he has experienced in a basketball arena.”
Windhorst also took advantage of that experience to analyzer the reasons why he believes that the new NBA project in Europe may fail. And these have to do with a lack of attention to that tradition, those already created cultures and the way in which the games are understood and experienced in Europe unlike in the NBA: “I am skeptical about the success of this proposal. It seems that Belgrade does not enter into the plans of the new competition, and I believe that it is basically the heart of basketball outside the United States. The NBA wants to do this to partner with soccer giants like Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain which already have an incredible history and infrastructure. Of course, Barcelona and Real Madrid already have basketball teams that function as sister sections to the soccer teams. And the NBA also wants to recruit them. But the nature of European basketball is not similar to professional basketball in the United States. The NBA is going to say ‘we can do better’, y I have no doubt that no one is as good at running a competition and extracting profits from it. And they know how they create an attractive product: if you go to a game on any Tuesday night in January, you will have a good time. The NBA is saying ‘I am an expert in entertaining the masses‘. But that’s not why people in Europe go to basketball games. You go there because your father’s father cheered for that team you are going to see. There are not all those stalls to sell products… It’s a different mentality. I know that the NBA can create a great product but I don’t know if they can make so much money move in Europe. If you are in Rome,You are going to pay to see a match between the Manchester team and the Paris team in Netflix o Amazon? And that’s what the NBA is built on. I could be wrong, but I’m skeptical. And, furthermore, it is not going to be done hand in hand with the Euroleague but in a direct confrontation.”
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In any case, the NBA project in Europe continues. Without, for now, an agreement with the Euroleague and with more and more ballots (in fact it would be logical right now) that starting in 2027, if the new competition fulfills its desire to debut in October of that year, for the 2027-28 season, There are two competitions with a hegemonic vocation. A dangerous scenario for all parties and, perhaps, detrimental to European basketball. In January, as announced by Commissioner Adam Silver and Andreas Zagklis, Secretary General of FIBA, the search for investors, clubs, owners… the new ones will begin. partners of a new proposal. In the Euroleague, the next few days will also be crucial because January 15 is approaching, ldeadline for those who have not yet done so to sign their new ties with the competition, until 2036: ASVEL (which, if there are no surprises, will not do it and will leave the Euroleague), Fenerbahçe, Barcelona (these two are inclined to do it) and a Real Madrid that continues to see the NBA option with the best eyes but that could remain in limbo until this project takes shape if he does not sign with a Euroleague that, in principle, would no longer have the white club as of June.
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