NBA teams to play against European clubs (Agencies) Updated: 2005-06-15 10:10
Four NBA teams will hold training camps overseas and play preseason games
against top European clubs in both 2006 and 2007, NBA commissioner David Stern
announced Tuesday night at Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
 NBA Commissioner
David Stern answers a question during a news conference before Game Three
of the NBA Finals in Auburn Hills, Michigan, June 14, 2005. The league
announced four NBA teams would compete against several top European
basketball clubs as part of NBA Europe Live.
[AP] | Stern also said the league was
considering playing an All-Star game in Paris as part of the NBA's effort to
increase its presence in global markets.
Also, the league is strongly considering playing exhibition games in China
and Latin America in 2006.
"What we are doing here tonight, and have done, is to assure that elite
athletes will increasingly bounce the ball rather than kick it," Stern said. "I
think we're increasing the viability of the sport on a global basis."
The NBA teams, to be determined later, will play and hold training camps in
four European cities. In addition, a four-team tournament will be held in a
fifth city. It will include two NBA teams, as well as the defending Euroleague
champion and runner-up.
The NBA's last visit to Europe was in 2003 for the NBA Europe Games, which
featured a preseason game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis
Grizzlies at Bercy Arena in Paris. Teams also traveled to Milan, Berlin,
Seville, London, Barcelona, Bologna and Munich during the 1990s, and European
clubs played exhibitions against the NBA's Toronto Raptors this past preseason.
The new plans take the NBA's European wanderlust to a new level. With teams
holding training camps overseas, they would presumably be on the road for as
long as a two-week stretch before returning to North America.
"There was a time when the idea of an NBA team playing an exhibition game in
Europe was just going through the motions. Now the question will be whether our
teams have enough training camp under their belts to play and win in Europe,"
Stern said.
Stern would not disclose the exact sites being considered, or the teams that
have been receptive to opening camps in Europe.
"If you began to guess at large European cities, and teams that have some
sort of international flavor, you could begin to sort of see the list from which
we are working," Stern said, adding that a final decision on cities and teams
should be made by October.
Stern also said the NBA had asked to see a copy of the building
specifications for a proposed arena in Paris. The league is already giving
serious consideration to holding its 2007 All-Star game in Las Vegas, but taking
it overseas would present a number of new logistical difficulties that the
league is currently reviewing.
"It certainly is on the table for discussion," Stern said.
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