By Aris Barkas/ barkas@Eurohoops.net
Cannes are known not only for the film festival but also for the Cannes Lions festival, one of the biggest marketing event of the year and the NBA Europe project was present.
On an event which can be considered the continuation of “NBA Next: Europe”, which was held in January in London, a host of NBA executives were present in Cannes, speaking with prospective commercial partners for NBA Europe.
Per Eurohoops sources, alongside executives from Europe, a host of senior commercial executives from New York have travelled over, underlining the league’s intent to accelerate and elevate basketball’s commercial landscape while aiming for a 2027 tip-off of the new league.
The general consensus is that European basketball remains a largely untapped commercial opportunity, capturing less than 1% of Europe’s 40 billion euros sports media and sponsorship market.
This is the bet for the NBA project and for European basketball in general, to change this status quo. That’s why there have been NBA meetings with potential global brands, agencies and media companies, including Fortune 500 companies and a strong presence of current NBA players and league legends will participate in activations and engagements throughout the week, further reinforcing the NBA’s ability to have global cultural relevance.
It has to be noted that RedBird Capital and Paris Saint-Germain are part of the conversations held by the NBA, as the league will also take part in panels and conversations to share its plans for branding, fan engagement and go-to-market strategy for the NBA Europe project, which is expected to be launched with a big marketing push, maybe the biggest ever in the history of the sport in Europe.
So the signal send is clear. The NBA has the relationships, expertise and global platform that can unlock the full commercial potential of European basketball.
And in any case, since the talks with the EuroLeague remain ongoing and a collaboration between all involved sides is not out of question, to build a new ecosystem alongside world-class partners from day one.
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