With this in mind, it is expected that the NBA India Games 2019 will be a huge success. What is this event about and what can we expect to see at it?
What Is the Background?
The figures for last season show a huge upsurge in interest in NBA games. More than 350 live games were shown in India, with Sony sports channels featuring them. In addition, close to 80 of these have Hindi commentary on them.
Diane Gotua is the vice-president of global business operations for the NBA in North America. She said that “over 91 million viewers consumed over a billion minutes of the NBA content” during the previous season. They also had more than 20 million social engagements on their social media accounts.
This means that there is growing demand for the sport to take off here. The NBA have placed India as one of their priority markets, meaning that they are keen to grow here in the near future.
As part of this, former Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi has been hired by the NBA as their managing director in India.
What Does the NBA India Games Involve?
Sunday, October 5 will be the date of the first-ever NBA-level clash played on Indian soil. The teams taking part are the Sacramento Kings and the Indiana Pacers. This historic game of basketball will take place in the SVP Stadium in Mumbai.
Women’s NBA player Ebony Hoffmann has travelled to India for the event. She said that basketball could overtake cricket as the number one sport in India. In speaking about the first game, she pointed out that Sacramento Kings are young and athletic, while the Indiana Pacers have older, more experienced players.
Hoffmann also declared that she thinks it won’t be long before a player from India makes the move to the NBA. 3,000 young fans will watch this first game, while a second match between the two is scheduled to take place in front a paying public the next day.
The players from both teams will also meet youngsters, in the ongoing attempt to bring through young basketball stars of the future. Overall, the NBA India Games will take place over a week and is expected to greatly increase the sport’s profile in the country.
What Other American Sports Could Become Popular in India?
Typical US sports such as baseball and American football have never been particularly popular in India. While over 98 million people watched the 2019 Super Bowl in the US, it isn’t seen as being a big event in India. Like the NBA games, NFL games are shown on Sony. Yet, football doesn’t appear to have gained as much popularity as basketball in recent years.
In the same way, NHL games, MLB action are far less widely followed outside of the US. However, there is enough support for each of these sports to suggest that moves could be made to popularise them in India.
Indians do like horse racing and have numerous competitions of their own. Therefore, it is likely some people will pay a close look at the upcoming Breeders Cup results, in November.
As a nation of sports-lovers, Indians watch endless hours of cricket, soccer, and hockey each year. If American authorities can find a way to get the Indian public more interested in their sports, then they will have access to millions of new fans.
The NBA India Games 2019 event could be a good start on making introducing some new fans to baseball. However, it is only a beginning and we may need to wait for some Indian-born basketball stars before the sport really booms in the country.