The success of Australians in the NBA -- the last three years have seen an Australian play "a major role in a championship winning team" -- has driven local sport lovers to basketball, according to Max Mason of the AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW. ESPN Australia & New Zealand GM Haydn Arndt said, "I call it 'The George Street' test. It has almost reached the cultural zeitgeist now with the NBA ... even when you walk into the sports stores, you walk into Rebel Sport, there's a huge NBA section ... in the old days it was down the back and harder to find." Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova "have all played a big part in bringing championship rings to their teams and lifting the profile of basketball in Australia." Arndt said that ratings for the NBA jumped 29% last season and "he is expecting them to improve further" in the '16-17 season after ESPN signed a "new deal to double the amount of matches it airs" on its local pay-TV channels. He said, "Even though we're primarily focused on international sports, we're focused on sports where Aussies are making a difference and doing really well." Jarryd Hayne's expedition to the U.S. for a "brief stint" with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers further stimulated Australian interest in American sport. Arndt: "NFL has done really well ... full-year [ratings] were up 20 percent season-on-season. [There was] the initial worry of is it going to spike and fall back ... I don't think so ... NFL has really taken off and I think it's really going to keep growing." Locally, Disney-owned ESPN is available through Foxtel and Fetch TV. The sports news and broadcast business launched its Australia edition of ESPN.com back in March and unique visitors have lifted 26% since (AFR, 10/9).
