NBA (National Basketball Association) Commissioner David Stern has made his desire to go international with the association known numerous times in recent years. As a result, the league kicked off a series of international games featuring an abundance of teams, including the champion Miami Heat, and contests took place in Turkey, Italy, Germany, Spain, Mexico and China.
“Our games are on TV in 215 countries in 43 languages and [in] none of those countries do we give it away,” Stern told CNBC. “It is a very profitable opportunity for us.”
In the U.S., no one has been helping to push the NBA’s brand abroad quite like the Brooklyn Nets. Owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets boast two foreign-born rookies on their active roster: forwards Tornike Shengelia and Mirza Teletovic. They also added current Turkish Basketball League stars Ilkan Karaman and Bojan Bogdanovic (via trade) during the 2012 NBA Draft.
Both Karaman and Bogdanovic participated in the opening game of the NBA’s international tour, combining for 15 points in a 97-91 victory for the turkish team, Fenerbahce Ulker over the Boston Celtics in Istanbul, Turkey. Karaman added seven rebounds and performed admirably when posted up against Celtics’ forward Kevin Garnett in the first half.
The Nets also pursued Russian-born NBA veteran forward Andrei Kirilenko in the offseason, but could not get a deal done to bring him to Brooklyn. The 47-year-old Prokhorov is adamant about adding more Russian players to the Nets’ roster in the future.
“I’m thinking about recruiting Russian players to our lineup in the nearest future,” Prokhorov told ITAR-TASS news agency (h/t Russia Today). “I really want this to happen.”
Where the players come from likely is not as significant to Prokhorov as is adding to a cultural melting pot that properly represents the United States and its people. Prokhorov seeks diversity amongst the Nets’ roster and even his employees, hiring the lovely Russian-born and North American-bred Alyonka Larionov to host the Barclays Center’s BCTV. Larionov is the daughter of former NHL star and hockey Hall of Famer Igor Larionov.
Nested in the most diverse city in the world — New York City — Prokhorov has the right idea. He is providing the city with a brand and product the people can easily associate with and, in turn, is likely doing wonders to garner some points in the battle with the Knicks for which team really is “New York’s team.”
Rather than catering to the die-hard fan, the Nets have developed a brand that reaches out to every fan, young or old and from every cultural background imaginable. The result is a booming enterprise heavily involved in social media with top-selling merchandise and all things “Nets,” abuzz in the New York metropolitan area and around the world.
The Nets may not be participating in the NBA’s series of International match-ups this month, but their presence in the league’s globalization is substantial. Taking over Brooklyn was only part of Prokhorov and the Nets’ plan; the world is up next.
Louis Musto is a contributor for the Sports Journey Broadcasting Network covering the NFL and NBA. You can follow him on Twitter @LouisMusto.