By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
We are in a time in which the schedule of the NBA Europe Live Tour 2015 is being decided and also in an era during which the NBA is trying to get as close as possible to the biggest markets in Europe in any possible way.
NBA regular season games being played in European soil is a good start for a bigger connection between Europe and the top basketball league in the world. However the question remains, can the opposite also happen? Can big European clubs make a step towards the US market?
The answer seems to be yes and here come the big news.
The defending Euroleague champions Maccabi Tel Aviv according to Eurohoops sources, will became also the first Euroleague team which will open a representation office in the USA and to be more specific in New York! That move is also connected with the pre-season game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Italy’s EA7 Milano which will be played in the legendary Madisson Square Garden.
A second game will be also played between the two clubs in Chicago’s United Center, one more big city with large Jewish and Italian communities.
It’s an experiment which is expected to be more than succesful, considering how many people from both cities will be interested on those two teams, because of their ethnic descent.
For the first time two European clubs will play on American soul twice during a few days. Even if the two arenas will be half full, there will be a financial profit. And of course the combination of those two clubs is more than attractive. A global brand like EA7 Armani and the “team of the people” of Israel will play in two US cities in which will be welcomed by the Jewish and Italian communities.
It’s a project led by Maccabi in collaboration with Milano and it can be a good start for things to come for obvious reasons. If that’s the first move of the new representation office of Maccabi, then things can only get better with the Israelis making history once again.