NBA hoping to score in Indian basketball

"India is a priority market for us. We don't expect overnight changes but we are definitely here for the long haul. Our focus is to grow the game of basketball in India", said Yannick Colaco, MD of NBA India, while describing his vision for the NBA's plans in India.
The NBA only opened its first office in India in 2011. Yannick was appointed as the MD of NBA India in 2013. Even though they may seem like late entrants into India's cricket-dominated sports market, they are infact the first overseas league to have a sizeable investment in India.

The likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and other Premier League clubs do have their academies in India but the NBA's involvement in Indian basketball has by far exceeded any attempts by other foreign leagues in developing Indian sporting talent at the grassroots level.

Yannick speaks passionately about the potential size of the basketball playing population in India, "We already have millions of kids playing basketball, through our programs and other existing platforms. Our aim is to make basketball the no. 2 sport in India. Commissioner Silver, who was here last December, continues to drive the vision for our global growth, including our aggressive expansion in India"

The NBA currently conducts two programmes with a massive outreach in India. While the Reliance Foundation Junior NBA program is targeted towards school going children within the age group of 6 to 16 years, the NBA Jam program is targeted towards the older, college going crowd.

In its first year, the Reliance Foundation Junior NBA initiative started off as a pilot project in the cities of Mumbai and Kochi. Close to 300 schools were targeted and over 150,000 children participated in the program, making the fledgling initiative a success.

Now in its third year, the program is on the verge of going viral. The projected number of children, who will be participating in the program this year is close to 1.5 million, across 2200 schools in 14 cities. Yannick is excited about the initiative, "This is one of the largest and most comprehensive national school program in sport in India. Our focus is in inspire kids to play the game of basketball and promote a healthy, active lifestyle. This year we’ll distribute 15,000 basketballs and setup 450 basketball rims as part of the program"

The NBA Jam is described as a "touring basketball festival designed to bring basketball sizzle to a city" by Yannick. The only pre-requisites for playing in this tournament is that each participant must have a college ID card and a team of 4.

NBA Jam is a 3-on-3 tournament held across colleges. The program, according to Yannick, is a mix of intense 3x3 competition, music, entertainment and other elements of the NBA and Basketball, which makes the game so much fun. For this purpose, the NBA India sets up fan zones at each of these college fests, multiple basketball courts complete with rims, digital scoreboard and shotclocks. There is also a tech zone and big screens with great basketball action.

The Jam started off 3 years ago, targeting 600 teams across 4 cities, which grew to 3,000 teams across 16 cities, and is expected to extend to 5,000 teams across 22 cities this year. Yannick says the response for the Jam has been through the roof this year, "We opened 450 slots for Hyderabad colleges last year, and were oversubscribed in a very short period of time. We had to allot additional slots."

The NBA's efforts are not just limited to these programs, but increasing viewership in a nation obsessed with cricket and English football of late.

When asked about the odd timings of the NBA live telecast in India, Yannick agreed and said that steps have been taken in this direction to increase viewership, "We look at Live NBA action in the mornings in India as an opportunity to provide fans high quality sport action at a time at which there is a dearth of it. Along with our partners Sony Six we created a platform called “NBA Mornings on Six” on which we showcased 2 LIVE NBA games back-to-back every day of the week."

"We also cater to audiences in the evening through “NBA in 60”, a one hour slot in primetime on Sony Six, which showcases highlights of 2 NBA games every day ", beams Yannick.

When questioned about the potential TV viewership numbers in India, he said "The total gross ratings of NBA’s live games was around 35% of that of EPL and we are gaining fast. I'd say we are doing well for the moment."