NBA Going Global Too

Last week I asked, “what will come next” as the NFL (National Football League) began the season with games played in London rather than Los Angeles, New York or Dallas.  Now we know what’s next -  It’s the NBA (National Basketball Association) that is becoming increasingly  global (www.nba.com/global)

The Los Angles Lakers, 2010 NBA  champions, New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, and Minnesota Timberwolves are on the road too.  The Lakers open their 2010-2011 season with an exhibition game in London playing against  another US team, the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Their second game, however, will be played against a European League team, Regal FC in Barcelona.    Exhibitions games by the two US teams will be played Milan, Paris, London and Barcelona.  But it isn’t only Italy, France, Spain and the United Kingdom that will host NBA games this October.  

The New Jersey Nets and Houston Rockets (known for their star Yao Ming) will start their season in China playing in Beijing and Guangzhou.  (By the way, the NBA was the first American professional sports team to play in China with its games in 2004.)

Appearing to follow the of the NFL , the NBA will begin playing regular season games outside the US (or Canada) in 2011.    The teams who will compete?  They  are the New Jersey Nets (owned by a Russian businessman) and the Toronto Raptors, the only team from Canada in the NBA.

Sports – more and more global.  World Cup.  Ryder Cup.  Maybe someday we will see a World Series that truly brings together teams from around the world.