Basketball still trails other sports in popularity in the U.K. despite the interest in Knicks-Wizards NBAE/GETTY IMAGES
The Knicks and Wizards face off tonight at O2 Arena as part of the NBA's annual London games, but basketball is still "largely an afterthought" in England, according to Candace Buckner of the WASHINGTON POST. The popularity of the NBA remains high, as the game "sold out" the 20,000-seat arena in an hour, and the U.K. is the top "European market for NBA League Pass." Additionally, a government study shows basketball is the "second-most played sport among 11- to 15-year-olds" in the country. However, despite "evidence of the game’s rampant popularity in some circles, British basketball pales in comparison to its continental European neighbors and basketball superpowers: France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Lithuania, Turkey and even Slovenia." London resident Joshua Pattison-Neill said, “It’s not as popular here as it is in the States and to be honest, in Europe. It’s probably the fifth-most popular sport." Buckner notes the basketball community in England "believe the game suffers due to lack of structure, poor government support and funding and little to no national media exposure." Although the NBA has "played regular season games in London for nine consecutive years, the expansion has operated in a silo." While a local resident can "find a soccer field replete with artificial turf anywhere in London, outdoor basketball courts are a rarity." G League Capital City Go-Go GM Pops Mensah-Bonsu, a London native, said, “With London being such a major city across the world, it’s strange that basketball is not as big of a sport in the U.K. in general" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/17).
LIFE OF THE PARTY: In N.Y., Marc Berman noted the Knicks yesterday practiced in a "gym in London’s financial district," and "more than 300 European journalists crowded into the facility." Knicks GM Scott Perry attended the '16 game the Magic and Raptors played in London and said that the "media throng wasn’t nearly like this." Berman notes reporters "came from all across the continent," including Latvia and Lithuania (N.Y. POST, 1/17).
