NBA Commissioner Adam Silver continues to be \u201cparticularly excited\u201d about future opportunities for NBA Abu Dhabi Games – and beyond.
\nPacked crowds flocked to Etihad Arena to witness the 2023 (Denver Nuggets) and 2024 (Boston Celtics) champions dazzle in a pair of preseason matches. It was the Celtics who prevailed on October 4 and 6, registering 107-103 and 130-104 victories.
\nThis continued the successful partnership originally inked by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and NBA in November 2021, with the first annual friendlies being played the following October.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re particularly excited about, not just the opportunity here in Abu Dhabi, but the Gulf region generally,\u201d Silver told reporters in the capital ahead of Friday’s tip-off. \u201cWe have a long history in this market, games have been televised for roughly 35 years.
\n\u201cThe game is probably 100-years old here in the Middle East… Today, we\u2019re the second-most-popular sport after football and the fastest-growing sport in the world, in terms of basketball.
\n\u201cOne of the things in particular we\u2019re excited about is the dramatic increase we’re seeing in girls and young women playing. I was at the Abu Dhabi Campus of NYU [New York University], where we have a program called \u2018Her Time To Play\u2019.
\n\u201cWe had approximately 130 girls, 11-14 years old… There were two components to the program; there was about an hour spent in conversation with these players about the values of the game, life skills, importance of hard work and respect for the game, dedication to your craft and then an hour on the court, in terms of basketball experience.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had an opportunity over the last week here with our on-the-ground basketball through Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA programs to connect with more than 7,000 kids. That includes 450 coaches, some based here, some who travelled here for the basketball portion of this experience.
\n“From our standpoint, it’s been very successful so far.”
\n View this post on Instagram A post shared by NBA Arabic (@nbaarabic)
\nBonds between the NBA and Middle East have gone from strength to strength. In addition to NBA Abu Dhabi Games, Jr. NBA\/WNBA and NBA Basketball School programs have been established, while UAE airline Emirates have been named Global Airline Partner of the NBA and Title Partner of Emirates NBA Cup.
\nNBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum was convinced this is just the start.
\nHe said: \u201cI think the number of partnerships that you\u2019re going to see here in the region I think will grow. Emirates is a partner of ours with the new NBA Cup, they\u2019ve been terrific partners in the region.
\n\u201cWe have a partnership with the Qatar Foundation to do grassroots programs, Jr. NBA programs in Qatar for boys and girls, too. BeIN has been a long-standing media partner of ours throughout the entire Middle East and North Africa.
\n\u201cI think the partnerships that we develop here, local companies Aldar, ADQ are also investing in basketball. I think that will continue to grow over the next five years as well.\u201d
\n View this post on Instagram A post shared by NBA Arabic (@nbaarabic)
\nGrowth in playing and training opportunities was also a key theme for Commissioner Silver. He hoped to take advantage of Abu Dhabi\u2019s status as \u201ca sports and entertainment hub for the whole region\u201d, potentially bringing an elite academy to the UAE.
\nHe said: \u201cWe\u2019re focused on some elite training here. Abu Dhabi has become a sports and entertainment hub for the whole region, we see an opportunity potentially with an elite academy here to bring in young people from the region broadly described\u2026 and take some of the best youth players and bring them here to train together, to develop to play at the highest levels for their national teams and potentially in professional competition.\u201d
\nIt is not just the giant footprint of NBA\u2019s superstars that has been felt in Abu Dhabi. Participation in Jr. NBA\/WNBA leagues has grown exponentially across the UAE, with Tatum taking particular pride in their development.
\nHe said: \u201cI think the main learning is that if you invest in the community, invest in giving kids the opportunity to play the game of basketball, you will see a tremendous impact.
\n\u201cThat is part of the partnership. When we first sat down with Abu Dhabi, it wasn\u2019t just about the games, it was about the activities we\u2019d create around the games.
\n\u201cThey understood that it was a good thing to get more kids active, playing the game of basketball. That is why we started off in that first year creating Jr. NBA programs for boys and girls.
\n\u201cParticipation is up 60 per cent in the UAE, 120 Jr. NBA teams this year up from 90 last year. Those are the things for governments around the world, Abu Dhabi is saying \u2018that\u2019s a good thing for us\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver continues to be \u201cparticularly excited\u201d about future opportunities for NBA Abu Dhabi Games \u2013 and beyond.
\nPacked crowds flocked to Etihad Arena to witness the 2023 (Denver Nuggets) and 2024 (Boston Celtics) champions dazzle in a pair of preseason matches. It was the Celtics who prevailed on October 4 and 6, registering 107-103 and 130-104 victories.
\nThis continued the successful partnership originally inked by the Department of Culture and Tourism \u2013 Abu Dhabi and NBA in November 2021, with the first annual friendlies being played the following October.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re particularly excited about, not just the opportunity here in Abu Dhabi, but the Gulf region generally,\u201d Silver told reporters in the capital ahead of Friday\u2019s tip-off. \u201cWe have a long history in this market, games have been televised for roughly 35 years.
\n\u201cThe game is probably 100-years old here in the Middle East\u2026 Today, we\u2019re the second-most-popular sport after football and the fastest-growing sport in the world, in terms of basketball.
\n\u201cOne of the things in particular we\u2019re excited about is the dramatic increase we\u2019re seeing in girls and young women playing. I was at the Abu Dhabi Campus of NYU [New York University], where we have a program called \u2018Her Time To Play\u2019.
\n\u201cWe had approximately 130 girls, 11-14 years old\u2026 There were two components to the program; there was about an hour spent in conversation with these players about the values of the game, life skills, importance of hard work and respect for the game, dedication to your craft and then an hour on the court, in terms of basketball experience.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had an opportunity over the last week here with our on-the-ground basketball through Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA programs to connect with more than 7,000 kids. That includes 450 coaches, some based here, some who travelled here for the basketball portion of this experience.
\n\u201cFrom our standpoint, it\u2019s been very successful so far.\u201d
\n View this post on Instagram A post shared by NBA Arabic (@nbaarabic)
\nBonds between the NBA and Middle East have gone from strength to strength. In addition to NBA Abu Dhabi Games, Jr. NBA\/WNBA and NBA Basketball School programs have been established, while UAE airline Emirates have been named Global Airline Partner of the NBA and Title Partner of Emirates NBA Cup.
\nNBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum was convinced this is just the start.
\nHe said: \u201cI think the number of partnerships that you\u2019re going to see here in the region I think will grow. Emirates is a partner of ours with the new NBA Cup, they\u2019ve been terrific partners in the region.
\n\u201cWe have a partnership with the Qatar Foundation to do grassroots programs, Jr. NBA programs in Qatar for boys and girls, too. BeIN has been a long-standing media partner of ours throughout the entire Middle East and North Africa.
\n\u201cI think the partnerships that we develop here, local companies Aldar, ADQ are also investing in basketball. I think that will continue to grow over the next five years as well.\u201d
\n View this post on Instagram A post shared by NBA Arabic (@nbaarabic)
\nGrowth in playing and training opportunities was also a key theme for Commissioner Silver. He hoped to take advantage of Abu Dhabi\u2019s status as \u201ca sports and entertainment hub for the whole region\u201d, potentially bringing an elite academy to the UAE.
\nHe said: \u201cWe\u2019re focused on some elite training here. Abu Dhabi has become a sports and entertainment hub for the whole region, we see an opportunity potentially with an elite academy here to bring in young people from the region broadly described\u2026 and take some of the best youth players and bring them here to train together, to develop to play at the highest levels for their national teams and potentially in professional competition.\u201d
\nIt is not just the giant footprint of NBA\u2019s superstars that has been felt in Abu Dhabi. Participation in Jr. NBA\/WNBA leagues has grown exponentially across the UAE, with Tatum taking particular pride in their development.
\nHe said: \u201cI think the main learning is that if you invest in the community, invest in giving kids the opportunity to play the game of basketball, you will see a tremendous impact.
\n\u201cThat is part of the partnership. When we first sat down with Abu Dhabi, it wasn\u2019t just about the games, it was about the activities we\u2019d create around the games.
\n\u201cThey understood that it was a good thing to get more kids active, playing the game of basketball. That is why we started off in that first year creating Jr. NBA programs for boys and girls.
\n\u201cParticipation is up 60 per cent in the UAE, 120 Jr. NBA teams this year up from 90 last year. Those are the things for governments around the world, Abu Dhabi is saying \u2018that\u2019s a good thing for us\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425687"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=425687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":425688,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425687\/revisions\/425688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=425687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=425687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=425687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}