 |
MU will be venturing into basketball. |
This is part of the NBA's ambitious plan to launch the NBA Europe league, scheduled to open in the 2027/28 season. Petrucci told Corriere dello Sport : "In a $50 billion market, European basketball only has a commercial value of $200 million . An NBA league here is an opportunity to increase competitiveness and expand its scale. If the world's most famous team, Manchester United, has agreed, there must be a reason."
According to Forbes , NBA teams in the US will generate $12.5 billion in revenue in the 2024/25 season. Major cities like Manchester, London, Rome, and Paris are on the list of potential locations to host 10-12 founding teams of NBA Europe, capitalizing on the rapid growth of basketball on the continent.
Manchester United once owned a basketball team of the same name in the 1980s, playing at the Stretford Sports Centre against teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid, and attracting an average of 1,500 spectators per game. The team won a national championship in 1986.
However, the project failed and was sold to local businessmen in 1988, then renamed Manchester Eagles before reverting to Manchester Giants after merging with Olympic City Giants.
Currently, the English Basketball League has been dissolved, but the city of Manchester has a Manchester Basketball team, established in 2024, which plays at the National Basketball Centre, Bell Vue, with a capacity of 2,000 spectators.
Despite being the fastest-growing and second-most popular sport in Europe, basketball currently accounts for only 1% of the sports media and sponsorship market.
Source: https://znews.vn/mu-sap-mo-du-an-the-thao-moi-post1603507.html
Comment (0)