Par
Joel Nandjui
Published on
This Tuesday, June 24, 2025 in the evening, within the Adidas Arena (18th) in Porte de la Chapelle, Paris Basketball will try to win its first title of champion of France. A victory against the Monaco team would be a consecration for this club which was built on an unprecedented model for French basketball.
Until 2018, and unlike football or handball, Paris did not have a professional basketball team. It is to repair this anomaly that two American businessmen, David Kahn and Eric Schwartz, will launch the Paris basketball creation project.
Build a competitive team
First step of this project: the duo buys The Hyères Toulon Var Basket-Club, which evolved into pro B, anteroom of the elite of French basketball, and transfers it in the capital. They set up, from this moment, a transformation plan which is freed from the management mode which existed in French basketball.
“Historically, French basketball is located in small provincial towns, and remains very dependent on the financing of local authorities,” analyzes Vincent Bot, strategy consultant. New shareholders prefer to emancipate himself from this path by bringing their own capital to make the sports organization grow.
In three years, the first investments bear fruit: the team found the elite of French basketball in June 2021. And after two complicated seasons, the leaders will decide to set up a competitive team. “In 2023, they will bring the coach and half of the Bonn team, in Germany, including the leader star, T. J. Shorts. These recruitments will allow them to change their dimension, ”explains Gabriel Pantel-Jouve, editor-in-chief of the media Freefr.
A strategy to attract urban audience
Paris Basketball will then experience its first sports successes in 2024 with its victory in Cup and Eurocoupe leaders. These two trophies will coincide with its installation in its new room, the Adidas Arena. The 8,000 -seat enclosure will help grow the notoriety of the franchise and make it one of the strongest brands in French sport.
To achieve these results, the leaders called on a communication agency which built a positioning based on the urban, young and cosmopolitan side of the city of Paris. “They set up partnerships with the actors of the rap scene, artists like Vegedream in particular,” illustrates Vincent Bot. ADIDAS ARENA matches become real shows that take up the US sport codes. The short seats of Adidas Arena are often occupied by stars, and their presence is relayed on social networks. Boris Diaw, Malik Bentalha, Ibrahima Konaté, Guy2bezbar and Ousmane Dembélé have already been seen in the Porte de la Chapelle.
A paid communication strategy. Paris Basketball now generates the most matching recipes in the championship (6 million euros in 2024) And is a merchandising leader (198,000 euros in 2024).
The capital’s club is the model to follow. This is the best in France in the world of indoor sports.
Despite these results, “the lack of French basketball exhibition limits the possibility of growing income from sponsorship,” says Vincent Bot. This situation remains a brake in the development of the club. However, the arrival of Omar Sy as a co -owner, announced on June 5, 2025, testifies to the attractiveness of the organization.
After a defeat in the final last year, Paris Basketball is a match to win the French champion trophy after only seven years of existence. This victory would be a real feat and validates the strategy “American -style “ Established by the two shareholders.
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