MUMBAI: USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that two pre-season games will be played in India in October 2019 which makes it the first North American sports league to make its foray into the country.
The two pre-season games will be played by Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings on 4 and 5 October 2019 at the NSCI Dome in Worli, Mumbai.
NBA India MD Yannick Colaco said, “Last season of NBA was watched by 120 million viewers. More than 350 live NBA games are available each season on Sony Pictures Network’s sports cluster, including 78 games with Hindi commentary. NBA merchandise in India is widely available like never before, there are 700 retail stores across the country. Our long standing partnership with Reliance Foundation continues to positively impact millions of boys and girls. We launched our first global NBA school in Mumbai in April 2017 and we now have 27 active NBA basketball schools in nine cities across India.”
Sony is the official broadcaster of NBA in India till 2020 as the extended deal between both is of 5 years that got renewed in 2015.
NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said, “Being the financial, media and entertainment capital of India we have decided to keep it in Mumbai. In order to fans consuming the product they need to start young and need to play the game of basketball.”
“I think fans pay for great consumer experience, we see that in cricket. The growth in viewership has been exponentially well. Seven years ago we have 5 million viewers and last season we had 120 million viewers. For us, the time is right because we have invested in grassroot development and facilitating infrastructure,” Colaco added.
The NBA India Games 2019 will be produced by BookMyShow and AEG and supported by a roster of marketing and merchandising partners.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said, “Our inaugural NBA India games will help further tap the enormous basketball potential in a country with a thriving sports culture and a growing, young and engaged population. We thank the Kings and Pacers organisations for participating in this historic event.”
The youth development initiatives in India, including the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program that has reached more than 10 million youth from 10,000 schools and trained more than 10,000 physical education instructors nationwide since its launch in 2013.
The ongoing 2018-19 season also includes five consecutive Sunday games from 10 March to 7 April that will air in primetime in India, marking the second straight year that five games will be televised in primetime.
