NBA planning to build hundred new courts in India in the next five years
NBA’s fame in India is on the rise.
Last year, senior Director of Business Development and Partnerships for NBA India, Akash Jain mentioned that participation in basketball leagues functioned by NBA India escalated by 30 percent the last year with more than 600 teams
taking part in different leagues and tournament.
As a consequence to this success, NBA later that year made an announcement that it reached a contract with Taj Television and Multi Screen Media for transmission of live games. Weekly games were broadcasted on Ten Sports which
skyrocketed the fame even more the following year.
Keeping the ever growing popularity of the game and to promote it even further, NBA recently announced its plan to erect hundred basketball courts in different parts of India. Motivated Jain thrilled with this decision said
"Our ultimate aim is to make basketball the number two sport in the country (after cricket). We are seeking to do that by making a sustainable grassroots program in a minimum of 10 cities in India. We are looking to do that through
school-based platforms. We are looking for partners to build infrastructure for the same and have a goal of building a 100 basketball courts in India over the next five years”
NBA has not hired a contractor yet that will be responsible for construction of these courts however it is working on it as Jain affirmed
“We are exploring for the right strategic partners and for locations and (also finalising) on the type of courts that we need to build."
Jain believes while more courts will help in enhancing the popularity of the game, it will also help them in expanding the domestic basketball league, Mahindra NBA challenge to more cities.
Mahindra Challenge that is the biggest basketball tournaments in the country kicks off this week and currently it’s a five-city league however according to Jain, they want to extend it to ten cities in coming years.
The league in which both men and women will be participating is divided into four categories that are- junior, sub junior, youth and adults and for the first time in three years since it was established, the tournament will include
Mahindra NBA challenge finals in which winners from seniors team and juniors in each city will compete for the title of national champions.
NBA is not just limited to America now and in last decade or so, we have seen some foreign players making an impact in NBA like Dirk Nowitzki, Pau and Mark Gasol, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Yao Ming. With the way the fame is mounting
in India, who knows we might see few Indian faces in NBA in next few years too.
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