By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
“Basketball capitals” is premiering today in ESPN and syndicated networks all around the world. It’s a series full of ambition and of course basketball, starting a long trip around Europe and exploring four cities through the basketball perceptive.
It’s more than interesting and we have the chance to talk about it with Esteban Apraez, the senior director of international marketing solutions of ESPN, a.k.a. the creator of the show: “I thought about it and the idea has been growing in my head for many years. I had the privilege of being in many places around the world, Mexico, France, the US, Colombia where I come from. I had also the opportunity to travel a lot to many cities. I landed to different places, with different colors and different belief systems. You meet people, that in theory have nothing in common with you, but then you start talking about sports and there is automatically a bond. That’s why sports are called the universal language. It didn’t matter if it was a cab driver, a merchant, or a shoe shiner, a diplomat, or an executive. We had a common bond, something that connected us in a profound way. It was like having a passport. I started learning through sports more about the culture, the history, the religion, about every facet of the city I was in and I wanted to document it, to share it with the world. The sports have also the ability to shape the cities, it affects the politicians, it affects the musicians and no one had done a documentary about this thing”.
The series started as “Football capitals”: “I launched it with a similar document in 2011 called football capitals in Latin America. And it became the most successful series in the history of ESPN international in Latin America with more than 22 million viewers. It was about Rio De Janeiro, this year we are going to Guadalajara, to Mexico city, we have been in Milan, we have been in London, to Manchester, to Barcelona, to Madrid, to Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, we have been to a lot of cities. We are actually in the third season. So we have already build a formula. We got messages like “you made me cry, I always wanted to go to Manchester, I know that I won’t and you took me there”. To me that’s the essence of the show”.
But now it’s time for basketball to be on the spotlight: “So now we have the basketball capitals, with four of the greatest cities in the history of mankind, Madrid, Berlin, Athens and Istanbul. Everybody knows about them, but you never seen them through the lens of basketball. That’s the heart of it. I promise you that you will rediscover these cities in a way that you never though possible using the language of basketball. That couldn’t have been possible without the help of Euroleague and Turkish Airlines. They are visionaries. Yes, we are showing places that they are their destinations, but ultimately we are creating something that will educate, will entertain and will enhance peoples’ life in some way. So this is a three way partnership”.
What can we expect to see? “Each episode is a little different. The first episode is about Real Madrid, the greatest team in European basketball, so it’s very driven by Real Madrid. It’s focused on that. When it comes to Athens, it’s a rivalry. It’s Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. In Istanbul is a little more complicated, because we had – ok I have to say that it’s my favorite city to visit – the East meets West, all this culture and four teams. It was a little more difficult to structure. I think we did a phenomenal job. We did touch Efes, Fenerbahce, Besiktas and not so much Galatasaray. We had also the help of Guler brothers and then we got the most controversial choice of the series, Berlin, which is my favorite. I never thought that I could visit Berlin through basketball and I come to find a team like Alba Berlin, a team with 12.000 people in every game. I came to learn that after WWII the American soldiers used basketball as a way to integrate with Berliners and that’s how basketball get to be in Germany. I learned about the duality of the Wall in a very different way that it was refreshing. I love all the series and I want to hear what people has to say”.
Will the series have more stops around the world? “Absolutely, that’s the dream. This first season I wanted to make Belgrade, but we needed a team to make it in the Top16. Kaunas… after we started every one said it’s the ultimate basketball capital. Athens is in the first season, so I want to go to Kaunas and of course, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, I would love to see Paris, I grew up there and I know there is a basketball culture in Bercy and then for season 3 we go to Manila, to Sao Paulo, to Boston, to Chicago, to L.A. to New York, my city. If people watch the show, then anything is possible”. So watch it and – believe us – you won’t regret it.