For nearly all human history, sports have offered a means to connect people from disparate cultures and backgrounds on a common ground, literally and figuratively. Regardless of their origins, players meet on courts, fields, and pitches that are the same size, to play by the same rules. Fans can maintain and proclaim their love for their home team even when they move across the world. Examples in soccer (football) and baseball are widely known and often popularized in the media.

The capacity of basketball to carve out a global market, with benefits for both consumers and the providers marketing these offerings, increasingly is emerging too. Whether this development can be attributed to the truly global appeal of Michael Jordan or to the devoted investments of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in various countries, basketball is gaining a foothold, particularly across Africa.

For the past two decades, the NBA has prioritized investments in Africa, noting the massive size of the potential markets of fans living there. Approximately 10 percent of NBA players have African roots, whether they grew up there or have close family members from the continent. The investments have helped create a functioning league of 12 teams, affiliated with existing leagues in different countries, such as Angola, Tunisia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Senegal.

In turn, the global expansion efforts already have had meaningful effects among the participating markets. In Senegal for example, a local basketball academy provides not only sports training but also educational opportunities for children whose access to such resources often is limited. The combination of an educational foundation and enhanced basketball skills promises increased opportunities for enrolling in international universities, applying for well-paying jobs, and enhancing the economic security of the players, their families, and the region.

In addition, the NBA’s efforts encourage participation by people of all genders. Across Africa, the problem of gender discrimination varies in intensity. With its international reach, NBA Africa gives women and girls in countries marked by greater discrimination a different perspective and sense of their own capabilities. By presenting participation in sports as “normal” for girls in other countries, the initiative could encourage women’s expanded contributions, in various sectors of the market. 

Yet the challenges are diverse and vast as well. The costs of establishing the presence and appeal of the NBA across the entire continent are massive, leading NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to express his concern that “As much as we are investing in Africa, the opportunity is so enormous I worry that we’re under-investing. There’s so much opportunity, but it’s not always easy to know how to deploy capital, which government you should be dealing with, who the honest brokers are. And so we’re learning as we go.” As it continues to learn and invest though, the NBA has yet to turn any profits in Africa.

Costs represent a challenge for fans as well. In nations in which many people live below stringent poverty lines, a $10 ticket to attend a game is well out of reach, as is an annual $75 League Pass streaming subscription that would enable consumers to follow the game from home.

In addition, the history of international relations in Africa creates challenges for establishing an international league. For example, one team from Burundi refused to wear league jerseys that featured the logo of a sponsor, Visit Rwanda. 

In its attempts to address such challenges, the NBA has established multiple regional offices (e.g., Johannesburg, Dakar, Lagos, Cairo, Nairobi) and explicitly adopts a grassroots approach to growth, focused on building local leagues and partnering with local governments to create a stable infrastructure that can last for generations of players and fans to come. Furthermore, its plans for the future feature a truly global perspective. The goal, according to Amadou Gallo Fall, the President of the NBA’s Basketball Africa League, is “to create a sports and entertainment product that the rest of the world is going to want to consume, pay to watch, travel to different African countries to visit, and use basketball as the convening power.”

Discussion Questions

1. Is NBA Africa likely to earn profits in the long-term? Why or why not? 
2. What global (social and economic) factors affect the growth prospects for building such a grassroots infrastructure?

Sources: Tania Ganguli, “Where the N.B.A. Sees Its Future,” The New York Times, June 14, 2024; Esfandiar Baraheni, “Impact of the NBA’s Basketball Africa League Is Already Bearing Fruit,” Forbes, March 29, 2024.