NBA in France
From Hoopedia
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NBA Office
The NBA opened its European headquarters in Paris, France in 1997
NBA Europe
40 rue la Boetie
75008 Paris
France
Tel: ++ 33-1 53 53 62 00
Current NBA Players
- Boris Diaw was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks as the 21st pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. He is a good friend of Tony Parker and has integrated the Hawks’ starting five. He was traded to the Phoenix Suns at the end of the 2004-05 Season.
- Tony Parker became the third French player to play in the NBA when he was selected by the San Antonio Spurs, as the 28th pick, in the 2001 NBA Draft. He immediately became part of the starting five and has certainly proved his place on the team. Parker played a crucial role in the Spurs winning the 2003 & 2005 NBA Championship title.
- Johan Petro was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics as the 25th pick in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft. Following in the footsteps of Piétrus and Diaw, Petro’s former club was Pau-Orthez in France.
- Mickaël Piétrus was drafted by the Golden State Warriors as the 11th pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. He previously played with Pau-Orthez in France with his team mate Boris Diaw.
WNBA Players
Four players from France have been featured on WNBA team rosters. Lucienne Berthieu was drafted by the Cleveland Rockers in 2002 and has played for the team for two seasons. The other three players who played in the WNBA were: Isabelle Fijalkowski (Cleveland Rockers), Laure Savasta (Sacramento Monarchs) and Audrey Sauret (Washington Mystics).
Business Activation
Consumer Products: Among the NBA’s core product categories are apparel, basketballs and electronic games with licensees such as Champion, Spalding and Electronic Arts. On the back of the growth of these categories the NBA is working with well-established European manufacturers with strong local retail distribution to develop new product ranges and categories in France.
Recent product ranges include: School supplies, nightwear, sunglasses, basketball shoes, sandals, slippers, socks and watches. The NBA also has a partnership with local fashion designer, Mohamed Dia, who produces the successful ‘NBA by Dia’, streetwear apparel collection.
Marketing Partners
Adidas
Nike
Reebok
Sprite
Television
For the 2005-06 season NBA programming is available to fans on Canal+, Sport+ and NBA+. Canal+ broadcast two games a week: an edited game on Wednesday afternoons as well as a live game on Friday nights. Sport+ (Canal+ Group’s sports channel) broadcast a game on Sunday night as well as NBA Action on Friday evenings.
In addition, fans have unprecedented access to the league with NBA+, a dedicated 24 hour channel, available to fans on the CanalSatellite platform. Fans in France can enjoy one live NBA game every day as well as daily highlights, original and classic programming and much more.
Fans can also enjoy all the top action from the WNBA, during the regular season, Playoffs and Finals on Sport+; as well as the WNBA All-Star Game and the weekly magazine program “WNBA Action”.
NBA Events In France
- On October 8, 2003, the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies played a NBA preseason game in Paris, as part of the NBA Europe Games 2003, in front of a sell-out crowd of 14,480. The NBA Champion Spurs won 105-93 and Tony Parker received a standing ovation when he received the MVP award in front of his home crowd.
- In 1997, the Chicago Bulls came to Paris to compete in the McDonald’s Championship. The three-day competition saw the reigning NBA Champion compete against five other club champions from around the world against sell-out crowds.
- In October 1994, the NBA staged a Europe Tour. The Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets played a game in Paris against each other, and then faced a European team in Barcelona and Bologna, respectively.
- The 1991 McDonald’s Championship saw the Los Angeles Lakers compete in Paris against some of the best European clubs.
Summer Events
- August – Sept 2004 & 2005: Seven cities across France played host to the Bouygues Telecom NBA Basketball Challenge. In 2005 the 5-on-5 basketball tournament tipped off in Antibes on August 6-7, culminating with the Paris stop and National Finals in Paris Saint-Denis on September 17-18. One of the highlights of the tour was the appearance of NBA Champion Tony Parker at Antibes. The event attracted over 3500 players and 50,000 spectators.
NBA.com/france
- NBA.com/france, the official French-language site of the National Basketball Association was launched in April 2003 and is where fans can find information about the most popular basketball league in the world, as well as the latest news on the French players and events.
- NBA.com/france contains local broadcast schedules and merchandise information along with expanded in-language photo galleries, polls and editorial features of NBA teams and players.
