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NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 6, 2012Jordi BertomeuDavid SternDAVID STERN: Good evening. On behalf of the NBA, I just want to say we're delighted to be back in Berlin, and we're delighted to be back in Germany. Our last game was in 2008 here at the beautiful O2 World, but tonight will be our eighth preseason game in Germany. I like to call them friendlies. And for us it's a great time to be a basketball fan. We're delighted with our work and partnership with the Euroleague, which we've been doing since 2006. We've had an exciting Olympic summer where the sport of basketball once again was on an international stage, and we see enormous continued growth. And I really want to thank the fans and the partners that have gotten us here, our partnership with BBVA, which is sponsoring the Europe Live tour, our being here at this O2 World. We're going to be in AEG buildings where we were in our Euroleague last night, NBA Euroleague in Turkey, where we'll be tomorrow in Milano, where we'll be in‑‑ and then we're going to Barcelona. And then on the way we're going to two AEG buildings in Shanghai and Beijing after that. AEG has been a terrific and supportive partner for us. I do want to thank Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks. It's been a dream of mine as commissioner to bring the Mavericks overseas but particularly to Germany because of a gentleman by the name of Dirk Nowitzki, and it was an extraordinary pleasure for me to be there at Mellowpark when we dedicated the basketball court sitting with Dirk and watching the admiration that the youngsters have for him. We couldn't be happier, and I especially want to thank the Bundesliga basketball, and I guess the Beko Bundesliga. I also want to thank Alba Berlin. It's just a‑‑ we met earlier with the German Basketball Federation to see how we can grow the game together. We're very excited about basketball here in Germany, here in Europe, particularly with the Euroleague, and around the world. That's all I have to say. I'd like to introduce my old friend, and he's getting old even though he's young. We've been at this for a long time, Jordi Bertomeu. JORDI BERTOMEU: Thank you, David. I just want to echo some words that David has said. It's the first time that we include this tour in Berlin, and it's the first time we have two German teams in the Euroleague. It's a coincidence probably that the growth of our game in Germany thanks to the good job that the leagues and the club are going, and I think we have to congratulate ourself because for us in Germany it's a very important country when we want to promote our game. We have said that these games on this tour has the main proposition to offer our opportunities to enjoy games with teams coming from the best leagues in the world. Up until now, this is the purpose. I think yesterday we enjoyed a good game in Istanbul. We are assured today and tomorrow and Tuesday we will have the same. But further, for us, it's also an opportunity and experience to work with our friends of the NBA, to share the experience with them, to learn, because they have already done many things that we want to do in our evolution as a professional league. And assuming that we have different models, different, let's say, sports culture, and of course different resources, as a professional league, I think we share the same vision about the importance of improving the quality of the game, the importance to promote the game, and the importance of basketball becoming a global sport, and specifically in this field I have to say that the NBA has been doing a terrific job. And finally, we have in front of us a very important season for the Euroleague, with more games, more weeks, moving the games to Friday, the teams moving to the bigger arenas, and so we will finish the season in London with our Final Four. So it's plenty of challenge for the Euroleague, and we could not have better kickoff of this tour and this game today here in Berlin. I want also to thank everybody who made this tour possible, so the sponsors, the three partners, the NBA teams and the Euroleague teams, and of course the NBA for their help, and I hope you will enjoy a good night. DAVID STERN: I just want to say, Jordi reminded me when he talked about the Final Four in London, we had the London Olympics; actually in January, we recently announced that we would be having an NBA regular season game between the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks in London. So London, it's funny, is becoming a very important basketball city because of the AEG O2 building. And I guess the other thing that I want to add is that as part of our collaboration, actually two Euroleague teams are currently in the United States, Siena and Real Madrid, and they're playing different NBA teams, four different NBA teams. This is a trans‑Atlantic partnership, and the only game I haven't mentioned is the one that we're playing in Mexico City. That's Orlando and the Hornets are playing in Mexico City and the Heat and the Clippers are playing in China. This is a very, very busy time for us. We're trying to make up for the absence of a preseason last year. Q. These are all still friendlies. There's been talk about maybe having a European expansion of the NBA with serious games. How far are these thoughts? DAVID STERN: I would say those thoughts are far. I always say‑‑ Q. How far? DAVID STERN: 10 years, but I say that every year. And I think I first said it 10 years ago. In order for there to be an NBA expansion, there would have to be continued growth of the television market for our league, continued growth of fan interest in our game, the testing of a model financially that would work, buildings. We only have now I would say‑‑ we don't have enough buildings that could do it, and of course high net worth individuals who are willing to spend enormous sums of money. So I think it's safe to say that although we're closer than we were yesterday, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, will be a while until that happens. Q. David, you talked about it being a dream of yours to bring Dirk back here. How much was it a priority to get it done this preseason considering the championship two years ago? DAVID STERN: Well, you know, I think it just takes a lot, and I'm particularly thankful to Mark Cuban, who I think was generous in making the Mavs available for us and I think understands the potential. We might have considered it even earlier, but last year we didn't have the preseason. So this really was a high priority for us to get it as soon as possible, and it worked out perfectly this year. Q. Can you describe your relationship with Mark Cuban with all the ups and downs the last couple of years? DAVID STERN: Mark and I have a very good relationship. We actually always have. I think it helps his profile when I fine him, so I'm always happy to help him. He's been a source of information and advice on all things digital and broadcast at the same time when I was yelling at him for some real or perceived transgression, so we've always had a very good relationship. Actually I welcomed him last night when he got here and as he was heading over to the American Chamber of Commerce dinner that was honoring Dirk. It was particularly great for me to see him in a suit and a tie, and that's out of respect to Dirk Nowitzki. So Dirk is the one that can do that. But I have a very good relationship with Mark. Q. Mr.Stern, question for the upcoming season. Which teams are going to be the top teams in your mind and which team is ready for a surprise maybe? DAVID STERN: I don't know anything about basketball (laughter), I just read the newspapers and the magazines and the blogs and all the dot‑coms. And it seems like everybody has decided that it's going to be amongst Miami and Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. But the good thing about our league is we're going to have to play the season to find out. San Antonio thinks that Tim Duncan has one more good season in those legs at least; Dallas has retooled in a very unusual and good way, I think. They think that Dirk has a championship run in him. Brooklyn thinks that the game was invented in Brooklyn; and the Knicks think it's their time. And the first thing the Celtics did was sign Jason Terry from Dallas, and he announced that the Celtics were going to win the championship. The Clippers have gotten better and better, and so it's‑‑ I'm not even being fair to all of the other teams in the NBA because Philadelphia thinks that with Andrew Bynum, they are a whole new team ready to go. We're going to have a great season. I'm really very excited about the season, and ask me the question again in June and I'll have a better answer. Q. You talked about growing the game in Germany, but in reality for the last 15 years, even though we had Dirk Nowitzki the game didn't really grow over here. We don't have a television contract, don't have NBA on free TV. What are your plans to grow the game in the next couple years after Dirk is retired? DAVID STERN: You know, I would say the way you grow the game is to get more kids to play it, and I think that the‑‑ in our meetings with the Federation, the fact that there are more, I would say, teams representing regions or cities amongst kids of high school age playing against each other and the various programs I think that the Federation does for youth development and that we're going to work on with the Federation for youth development. I've been at this for too long to think that free television is the answer. In the U.S. we're predominantly on pay television. We're on cable and we're on satellite. Here in Europe we're on CANAL+ and CANAL+ Spain, France, SKY Sports in Italy. I'm going to the game tonight, I'll be with SKY Deutchland, and I think it's wise for us to focus on the digital availability of space, because frankly, our game does not draw the major audiences that the owners of free television need to have in primetime. That's just the way it is. But we've got plenty of opportunity to grow, and that's a good thing. And I think it's about grass‑roots, and I think it's getting a little bit better presence than we currently have on satellite and cable delivered services. I'm comfortable that it will happen, I truly am. And I see much more interest. Germany is the second‑ranking country in what we call our League Pass Broadband. If any of you would like to subscribe tonight, I'm sure we'll get the forms, and you can see 1,000 NBA games if you're an NBA fan, and you can see them on your PC, on your laptop, on your smartphone, and I think that's the wave of the future for us on a global basis, a one‑to‑one relationship potentially with our fans, or partnership with a TV network and the ability with that network to deliver games to our fans, what I would call League Pass Broadband International. And we see‑‑ we think this is going to be our first full season of that, and it's going to be enormous growth on a global basis, including in Germany. Q. Can you go into detail about the cooperation with the BBL, the cooperation you have as a league? DAVID STERN: Well, I would say it's more‑‑ it's with the Federation. I met with Mr.Weis and the executive director. We did, we had several meetings this morning and this afternoon and previously, and we're looking at just an array of the youth competitions and the youth‑‑ they have the bronze, silver, gold in the schools for measuring competence and proficiency in basketball, and we've said we'd like to‑‑ if they'd like to expand that offering, NBA‑related opportunities to kids, even up to traveling to the next All‑Star Game or whatever, visits perhaps with our coaches and even referees, we have a wide array of collaboration with different federations around the world. And we have a menu, and they usually want to talk about coaching collaborations, referee issues, because everyone doesn't like referees; on a global basis they yell at the referees. I happen to think our referees are the best in the world, and you'll see that tonight. So it's a very open slate, but we're particularly keen on the fact that they're talking to kids at the high school level and below to get them more interested in developing basketball skills. Q. Your touring the world with the NBA teams to promote the NBA internationally, but how important is it for foreign‑born players to be successful in the NBA, looking at Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming, how important is that? DAVID STERN: Actually we're touring the world to promote basketball. We think at the highest level that's a good thing, but basically the reason we went into the Olympics in 1992 was to respond to FIBA's request that the best thing to promote basketball would be if the NBA allowed its players to contribute. Little did I think I understood at that time that the result of that would be an improvement, a dramatic improvement of the level of play in the world much more quickly than any of the so‑called experts figured. And as a result, although we didn't do it as a recruiting tool, it has resulted in us going into our rosters‑‑ into our season this year with over 90 international players on our rosters at training camp, which is an extraordinary gift to the NBA of international talent. And so that's a dividend, a very large dividend of us promoting the sport on a global basis. And of course it's important. When you think that we have the equivalent of eight teams of international players, I know it doesn't make Jordi as happy as he could be, especially with the younger players, because that's a subject that we have had many discussions about, because there's some concern ‑ I think justifiable ‑ that a young player international who comes too soon and then doesn't make it may never achieve his ultimate potential. And I share Jordi's concern, we just haven't found a way to work that out to our mutual satisfaction. Q. Are there any new countries you want to play NBA European games, and is it possible that Poland will be amongst them the next few years? DAVID STERN: It's not presently on our‑‑ in our plans, because in light of the fact that Brazil is going to have both the FIBA World Cup and the Olympics, we're beginning to look a little bit south to see whether there's a game that we can do with respect to Latin America. But we depend upon our partners at the Euroleague to talk about the best teams and the best cities in their league, and so if‑‑ Jordi, is Poland in our future? JORDI BERTOMEU: Well, I think that Poland is improving, and this year our team in Poland will open a new building, so it's an opportunity at least to be taken into consideration. Then we have to see if it fits all the requirements that we are expecting from this game. So probably in the future. Q. So what about Final Four of Euroleague? JORDI BERTOMEU: If you want anything, you want everything. Well, you know, we have our partnership with AEG, as well, and we have committed this year the Final Four in London and next year, as well. So we have time to see and to decide where we're going to be in 2015. So Poland is an option, so everything is open. DAVID STERN: How big is the building in Poland? JORDI BERTOMEU: The building is in Sopot, Gdansk, so they have a new building. It's at the border of the city, which is 13,000 spectators, 14,000 spectators, not bad. Our team moved to play there this year. Q. Given tonight we're going to see kind of a combination of NBA rules and European rules, FIBA rules being played, could you ever imagine a time where everyone played under the same set of rules? DAVID STERN: Not during my commissionership and probably not during my lifetime. We have presented for the consideration of the competition committee the whole issue of basket interference, goaltending, whether they were interested in adopting the European rule, which I think would make it much easier for the officials because that's a tough call. It's the call that we get wrong the most of all of our calls. But there was no great enthusiasm for that. Again, even with respect to allowing a zone, our coaches and teams are tentative in their approach to that. But in many respects, our game has come much closer. The line has moved out. The ball must be touched out of bounds by the referee. It's now to four periods. Our game is‑‑ the paint has gotten wider. So there are incremental changes that we're getting to, but I just don't know if we'll ever get all the way there. JORDI BERTOMEU: Probably it will be much more easy that we are moving to some of the things that David has mentioned. In fact we have already approved our internal technical commission to present some change of the rules more in the line of the NBA rules in terms of to protect all the rules that can protect the players and make the game more spectacular, more fast. I think it has to be considered because we need to improve the game. So probably some of the aspects will move more in this direction. DAVID STERN: Well, we have learned a lot from the FIBA rules. You know, our second‑‑ our tenths of seconds, we were at a game here one year saying, why do they have tenths of seconds and we don't, and we went back and we changed our clock. And then I think they looked at our 24‑second clock and said why don't we have a 24‑second clock. And these games are interesting to see. Obviously we've been at it a lot longer than the Euroleague has, but there's nothing that we can't learn from them as they make their changes. We're always watching the game. Q. With the Final Four promotion the NBA does in London, does it worry you that the game domestically still doesn't seem to be growing? DAVID STERN: You know, I've been at this now plus or minus 30 some odd years, and so I have a very long‑term idea. It will grow. It will grow in small increments. But we have seen it happen all over the world. And we think that there was a burst of enthusiasm. Unfortunately the English team didn't do‑‑ the UK team didn't do as well as they had hoped they would do, but I think that with our games on ESPN, hopefully on BSkyB, you will continue to see a growth in basketball in the UK. But no promises of an immediate explosion, it's just going to be long and hard. We've been in China since 1988; we played our first game in Italy in '84; we went to Russia in '88 for the first time. These are all‑‑ all I can say is that there are more young people, more registered FIBA basketball players in the world than ever before by a very important factor. I don't know all of the numbers. So we think that's a good thing, and with FIBA promoting three‑on‑three basketball, which is bringing more people to our game, we think the future looks very, very bright. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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