NBA Confirms Regular-season UK Game
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has confirmed it will return to London with its third regular-season game in Europe, featuring the three-time NBA champion Detroit Pistons and the two-time champion New York Knicks.
National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern has outlined his organisation’s determination to tap into the UK market, with the two teams set to clash at the 02 arena on 17th January.
The NBA returns to the venue of its two previous regular-season games in London back in March 2011, when the Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets played a double-header in front of capacity crowds.
The 02 also staged the final of the Olympic basketball tournament during the London 2012 Games.
Stern said: ‘London was the epicentre of global sports this summer, and the Olympics were a tremendous showcase for basketball. Playing our third regular-season game in the city in three years and having historic franchises like the Knicks and Pistons serve as our ambassadors provide extraordinary opportunities to further the game’s growth and development in the UK and throughout Europe.’
A total of 16 regular-season NBA games have been played outside the US, with Japan and Mexico having also hosted games, and 115 games, including pre-season fixtures, have been staged abroad.
The 2012 NBA pre-season schedule, ahead of the start of the campaign on 30th October, includes games in Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul, Mexico City and Shanghai this month.
The NBA became the first American professional sports league to stage regular-season games outside of North America when the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz opened the 1990/91 season with two games in Tokyo. Following NBA London Live 2013, 61 games featuring 26 NBA teams will have been played in 18 European cities since 1988.
