The NBA is considering bringing additional games to Europe, but scheduling logistics represent the biggest challenge to making that happen, an Associated Press report states.
Prior to Thursday’s Celtics-Sixers tilt in the United Kingdom, commissioner Adam Silver was asked by journalists in other countries when the league would send games to their parts of the globe. The most significant issue is figuring out a way to schedule the trips without interrupting the participating teams’ season schedules.
In order to make Thursday’s game in London work, for example, the Celtics had to stuff 44 games into the first half of their season. The Sixers, in contrast, have played the fewest games in the league – 39 – and will have the busiest part of their season in the second half.
Given that the NBA lacks the established off days that the NFL has, there may never be an easy to way to implement international games. At a time when teams are adamant that the league needs to cut down on their stateside back-to-backs, finding an organic way to give a team four days off before and after an international game, as was the case today, is no small task.
There’s more news from around the NBA:
- A report by ESPN’s Motez Bishara takes a deep dive into why Britain doesn’t have a larger presence in the NBA. For one, a 2016 survey revealed that just 175,000 Brits between 14-25 years old play basketball once a week. That contrasts with the 1,200,000 who play soccer. The feature also goes into the politics at play in a country where the majority of basketball is played in the inner cities.
- Being a loyal NBA fan in the United Kingdom prior to the arrival of the international version of League Pass was difficult, Motez Bishara of ESPN writes. “It’s still a struggle, purely because of the time difference,” one British fan interviewed said, “but it was impossible back then.“
It is so ridiculous that they need four off before and after. For a east coast team it would be the same as a west coast trip. They do not need that many days off, and the best time to have these games would be in the begging of the season not right in the middle. Problem solve Adam Silver!!!
Or do a game or two a week somewhere overseas so that all teams have this built into their schedule automatically and they just extend the season a week for the extra breathing room
It should not take 9 days to play an overseas game. It’s a good moneymaking idea, playing 15 games outside the country.