The NFL may be the world’s biggest and most profitable sports league, but the Premier League and the NBA are the most popular and far-reaching. Now the two are looking into a marketing and commercial agreement that would help them branch out into even more markets.
NBA reps travelled to London to meet with EPL brass and discuss how they could work together, comparing notes and ideas on their own media rights strategies, especially in China and the rest of the huge, untapped Asian market. Man United has long looked toward that market, and Yao Ming has put the NBA on the map there.
“We are unapologetic imitators. The Premier League’s ability to negotiate their (media) deals and the way they split their packages (of media rights) âis something we can learn from,” said NBA commish David Stern. The NBA has an eight-year $7.4 billion deal with ABC/ESPN and TNT, while the EPL inked a 3-year, $2.8 billion deal with Sky. But the EPL has gotten more foreign investors, including several Americans.
“The Premier League has been a bit ahead of us,” Stern said.
What do you think of a possible partnership between the EPL and NBA? Can’t you just see Steve Nash begging to get involved in some way? And who do you think each EPL team would correspond to? I see Liverpool as the Celtics, Tottenham as the Utah Jazz, Newcastle as the Knicks _ all the ca$h in the world, and no idea what to do with it.
