Stern To Announce Expansion Plans in EUROPE Saturday

[airvandal180]

Wow

 

[the pga tour]

[h2]NBA aiming to set up in Europe - report[/h2]Reuters - February 14, 2008, 7:54 am
MIAMI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The NBA is weighing up a plan to create up to five European teams to play in their league, U.S. media reported on Wednesday.

Sports Illustrated's Web site SI.com (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com) said they had been told by asource that NBA commissioner David Stern will announce the proposal at a news conference on Saturday.

A spokesman for the NBA told Reuters that the idea had been circulating within the organisation but could not confirm details.

"We have been talking about this for some time as a possibility or as one of many scenarios," he said.

According to SI.com, the idea is to create five new teams in large markets to create a fully-fledged European division within the NBA. The teams wouldparticipate in the entire 82-game schedule and compete for the title as any other team would.

The report said the location of possible European franchises was linked to the availability of large arenas which could be NBA-ready and cited London,Berlin, Rome and Madrid as possible venues.

The SI.com source said that Stern's idea was to move the NBA into recently built arenas before a potential rival might start up a Europe-wideleague.

The report is the latest sign of increasing globalisation of top sports leagues - the NFL and NHL have both played games in London in the past year and inMarch Major League Baseball teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will play games in China.

Last week, English soccer's Premier League announced plans to play a round of league matches internationally.

 

[sohi 23]

This is stupid beyond belief.

 

[jmoneybaggz]

I'm all for it...Now you can really call the winner of the NBA crown...The World Champion...

 

[bullsrepeat3peat]

 

[allen3xis]

The Worst Idea Ever

 

[sohi 23]

Can you imagine a West team having to fly all the way over there?
How would these European teams road trips work?
This would make it so there are 35 teams in the NBA, no way I see this happening.
I could see teams start D-league franchises there ala baseball and it's minor league system, but that's it.

 

[allen3xis]

And what NBA players would want to live and play in Europe???

will they be able to trade....imagine getting traded....to a team in Europe.

I'll wait to hear it out

but this is just dumb

 

[mario23407]

thats plain stupid.

 

[651akathepaul]

stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[you big dummy]

 

[barondavis5]

Its not a stupid idea, NBA will make tons of money from this. And like the other dude said, who ever wins the finals will actually be a world champion and nota "united states champion"

 

[nycknicks105]

shoudnt do it

 

[the pga tour]

theres gonna be some LONG @!* road trips. like 11-15 games I'm assuming.

 

[boi_wundr]

weird.

road trips
transactions
playoff schedules

i want to see how they've answered these questions among many others.

 

[swendro]

the NATIONAL basketball association

 

[aepps20]

Too many questions for me not to mention the basketball federations in alot of those countries will fight Stern to keep the NBA out.

 

[pharelfor3]

man is that a dumb Idea. Send Devean George there first.

 

[allen3xis]

NBA will make tons of money from this. And like the other dude said, who ever wins the finals will actually be a world champion and not a "united states champion"
How does this benefit us?

 

[mario23407]

Originally Posted by allen3xis

NBA will make tons of money from this. And like the other dude said, who ever wins the finals will actually be a world champion and not a "united states champion"

How does this benefit us?


the NBA already have the world champions beacuse it is the premier league and all the best players on earth play in the league.

 

[True Blues]

Wow.

This is a logistical nightmare if true.

 

[mario23407]

 

[dyyhard]

new jerseys, new teams..i'm all for it. I'm not sure how taxes work out or if any players will settle -- especially if they have families to raise in aforeign country.

 

[big j 33]

Originally Posted by True Blues


Wow.

This is a logistical nightmare if true.

That's the biggest problem with this.

Teams from Europe would have incredibly long road trips while in the U.S., not to mention players would not want to go and have to play in Europe, or evenbe traded over there and uproot their entire life to another continent. This would probably bring in a lot of money, so of course Stern would want to do it,but I cannot see how the benefits would outweigh the cons in this scenario.

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]