By Claire Obae
- The NBA is looking to Africa for its next global superstar as the sports popularity grows across the continent
- NBA’s Basketball Africa League includes notable investors like Grant Hill, Dikembe Mutombo, and former President Barack Obama contributing to its $1B valuation
The NBA is continuing to shoot its shot at finding global superstars who hail from Africa. It wants to find the next generation of stars in the continent, where basketball is one of the fastest-growing sports. Already, the ball seems to be rolling with the NBA’s Basketball Africa League, alongside notable investors like Grant Hill, Dikembe Mutombo, and former President Barack Obama contributing to its $1 billion valuation.
Why This Matters: The NBA has recently made major investments in Africa, where it sees tremendous potential for growth as African nations become more developed and their economies improve. For a while now, the NBA has long been interested in tapping into Africa’s growing market potential, but until recently found little success because of a lack of infrastructure and resources. Covid-19 played a major part of the NBA’s decline of revenue during the 2020-2021 season, but the expansion to Africa aims to hit a $10 billion revenue in the coming financial year.
In the past few years, the NBA has made a concerted effort to expand its global reach. The league has already announced plans to open up shop in Shanghai, China, and India. While those markets are still in the early stages of their evolution, the NBA is now looking to Africa as its next frontier to increase revenues.
What’s Next: As basketball gains popularity in Africa, the NBA has seen an increase in its African fanbase. The goal is to find new talent on the continent and develop them into future NBA stars who can help grow the sport’s popularity on a global scale.
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