The Far Eastern Division
Imagine this: in 2013 the Lakers go for a nine-game road swing to the East coast. They stop at Cleveland before hitting Boston, Philly, and New York. After taking care of the Knicks, they venture further East, hopping on a plane to play in London, Madrid, Rome and Paris.
According to SI.com, David Stern and NBA officials are going to reveal the League’s nascent plans for five full-fledged NBA franchises in Europe on Saturday.
The current idea would be to create five new teams in major markets to form a “European” division within the NBA. The teams would play the full 82-game schedule and compete for the NBA championship. But the proposal is new and many factors will influence the eventual outcome, the league source said.
“We need to do more market research, of course,” the league source said. “But in the end there’s only one way to find out, and that’s by going there and doing it.”
Read the rest of the article HERE.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Top Gun says:
I can’t picture teams in europ only because its so far away. Would u take a plane from LA to London, i think not. They should make a European League instead, but theres already many. Ah well…
February 13th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
GEE...nominated for new pop folk rap group album of the year says:
Man let us do us. Just let the U.S. be the U.S. I mean we got players playing on teams from other countries now. That is enough. I don’t see where it’s a good look at all for us to be having teams in other countries when we got some states that need teams here!
Naw not a good look.
Canada was enough. If the NBA does that I won’t even be giving any of those overseas team any count or press. I will still be on some USA ish. I don’t like it.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Bust Jlaze says:
What the….
No.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
BxBaller says:
This makes no sense, The commish is worrying about putting teams in Europe, but he needs to worry about putting a new team in Seattle if the Sonics leave. Plus he didn’t put any research into this. This situation has failure written all over it.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Bust Jlaze says:
NO!
That joint’s gonna be mad stupid. I’m down with international play, but that’s what the OLYMPICS are for! I know globalization is the business future and blah blah yackety smackety, but the NBA isn’t that kind of business. It will be virtually impossible for fans to follow, and if (read: WHEN) an overseas team wins the whole thing, cats are gonna be HEATED.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Celts Fan says:
I have no problem at all with teams over there, but this is a logistical nightmare and would be insanely expensive. Tickets would go up huge amounts across the board and how do you schedule a road trip. What, do the Euro teams not have to play back to backs? What about home and home series? You’re either darting back and forth across the pond or giving them insane road trips and home stands. Maybe in 2113 if we’ve developed planes that can cross the ocean in like 3 hours, then okay, til then, how can this possibly work?
February 13th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
doc says:
let them have their leagues and we keep ours.
February 13th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
word says:
this is stupid as hell, and pointless, gunna cause strains on players health and shit with that type of travel time. i understand the nba is greedy and wants to take money from the euro ppl but come on man, this is dumb. watch the nfl try it next.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Asheville says:
I think it would a very good idea if it makes the season last longer. More basketball is always good for me.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Icy says:
man what about dillution
The NBA is already diluted enough. If they are going to do this they should move some current franchises or fold someone. We don’t need any more talent dilution. I nominate Milwaukee, Seattle, New Orleans, Memphis, and the Bobcats. I would still rather they don’t do this though. If this works we will end up with a China division why we are at it.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Smitty313 says:
This is a stupid idea. The NBA already has to many teams think about. The talent level is dilutted (spellcheck). Some of the role players these days wouldn’t be in the NBA 10 years ago. Plus who the hell wants to fly way over to London, Italy if it’s not for a vacation.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Linca says:
Developing a passenger plane that crosses the Atlantic, let me check – yes, that was done in the 70’s. The NBA needs to buy a couple Concorde and refit them…
February 14th, 2008 at 1:09 am
djKianoosh says:
It’s a great idea and in due time ya’ll will love it. the NBA is in business. they need to make money. 5 new franchises create totally new sources of cash flow and it is a brilliant idea for the long term. especially now that the Euro is stronger than the dollar. logistics can be worked out, they can figure it out if the money is there.
in 50 years you’ll have an even more global NBA. maybe a division in the far east, another in africa, another in latin america, etc.
the real problem is getting by the other countries’ own national leagues. that’s the real problem. but if they can set a precedent that is a win-win for both the NBA and the other national leagues, then it will be smooth sailin…
February 14th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Data says:
I agree with DJ. The Nba realizes that you can only do so much in a domestic market. All businesses do it. If you don’t globalize you don’t grow. You have a limited amount of cities in the US that can support an Nba franchise and those coities already have other professional sports teams. The smart thing to do is to expand to Europe. The issue is of course the scheduling and the fact that it would be crazy to think that the league has enough talen to support 5 more teams. Looking at this i think it’s likely that some very rich eurpopeans are gonna make some crazy offers to buy american teams.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:23 am
penske1 says:
Somehow I doubt that the NBA NEEDS this financially… I don’t like this idea for so many reasons…
1. It conflicts with the leagues that these other countries already have going. Seriously…hasn’t the U.S. done enough to butt into other countries’ business??
2. Makes it REALLY hard to follow my team if they are playing in the middle of the night, or early in the morning – and tape-delayed games are lame.
3. Our players already punish their bodies enough… They don’t need MORE games and MORE travelling. In fact, I’d be happy with a 41 game season spread out over the same length season – fewer injuries to the players we actually want to see.
4. Honestly, why? We don’t need this. We already have FIBA, the Olympics, and whatnot. Stop being so greedy and try improving in areas that NEED changes.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Celts Fan says:
hey Linca, reread my post genius. I said if they develop a plane that can cross the Atlantic in like 3 hours (a MUCH faster plane – typical flight across the ocean now = 6-7 hours at least.) Read an entire post and make sure you understand it before you sarcastically comment or you look like an idiot.
February 14th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
gogogo says:
Celts Fan- relax.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde
“While commercial jets take seven hours to fly from New York to Paris, the average supersonic flight time on the transatlantic routes was just under 3.5 hours. In transatlantic flight, Concorde travelled more than twice as fast as other aircraft – other aircraft frequently appeared to be flying backwards.”
February 14th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
gogogo says:
and, i think a Euro-division/conference would be awesome. I wouldn’t worry about dilution of talent too much, the salary cap demands parity, and Smush really needs a place to play…