NBA Continues To Promote League, Game In India

NBA officials have been "dipping their toes in India since the mid-1990s, providing live television coverage of the playoffs and weekly regular-season games," but the league's "dreams of making basketball a mainstream sport are a long way from being fulfilled," according to Tariq Engineer of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. NBA President of Global Marketing Partnerships & Int'l Business Operations Heidi Ueberroth said that the league "hopes to open an office in India." Ueberroth said that the NBA also "plans a youth-oriented push that includes everything from school programs to five-on-five tournaments and touring properties like the NBA Jam Van." Last Thursday-Sunday the league held its first ever Basketball Without Borders goodwill tour in the country. The league also "has allied itself with the Basketball Federation of India," and the NBA has "talked with marketing and media companies about promoting its activities there." And India's Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports "has added basketball to its priority list." However, basketball experts said that the basketball infrastructure India needs to produce NBA-caliber players "could take years" to construct. The country the NBA "hopes India will mirror most closely is ... China." The league "has created millions of new fans in China over the past two decades. It already has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong." However, in India, "basketball must make up ground against more-ingrained sports. Cricket is a pseudo-religion in India. And then there's soccer." During the Euro 2008 soccer tournament, four of the NBA Finals' six games "didn't air live on Indian television because the local ESPN network chose to show highlights of the previous night's soccer matches instead" (WSJ.com, 7/7).