Battle For Sporting Supremacy: Basketball v Football (Fútbol, Soccer, Fußball, etc.)

By: chris | May 15th, 2009

The Wall Street Journal sat down with the commissioners of the three major US sports leagues along with hockey to discuss the future of sport, aptly titling it The Future of Sport. One of the discussions centered around basketball and whether or not it has been eclipsed by soccer as the predominant global sport.

David Stern, commissioner of the NBA (think of him as a less perverted more egomaniacal Sepp Blatter), donned his basketball lapel and star-spangled cap and declared basketball at least on par with football on the global scale. And then actually brought up some half-decent points.

* – Here is the unembeddable video of the question.

Stern did bring up the first bit but there are a couple things Sepp & Co. might want to keep an eye on in the future.

Number one: China. Basketball is surging there and largely on the coattails of one very, very large man, Yao Ming. And, in case you haven’t checked a census recently, China is quite populated. Of course China doesn’t speak for the entire globe, but they’re certainly a big piece of the pie. And while every big football club in Europe loves marketing there, given the fact that China won’t even show its own league doesn’t bode well for the rapid progression of football in the People’s Republic – a World Cup bid would do wonders, however, so keep your ears to the ground for Sepp’s footsteps/gold treasures falling from his grease stained pockets.

Number two: Foreigners. It began way back but the true influx of European, Asian, South American and African foreigners into the true red, white and blue NBA began with Dallas Mav Dirk Nowitski. He was so good so quick they became a fad (See: Darko Milicic, Nikolai Tskitishvili) which settled down quickly but they’re now seeing good, solid NBA players arrive from international destinations at a good, solid rate. Even producing a number one picks in Aussie Andrew Bogut (kinda) and Italian Andrea Bargnani. In the process giving exposure to Euro basketball.

Number three: Foreigners part deux. Josh Childress made big news stateside when he left a fairly luctrative NBA deal on the table for a very lucrative deal in Greece. And while Americans who aren’t of NBA-quality have been crossing the pond for years, this was something new. Which then resulted in kids bypassing the mandatory one year out of high school rule to enter the NBA by moving to Europe; now kids are even dropping out of high school altogether to polish their games in the pros before moving onto the NBA stage – taking a page right from the European model. Yet again: more exposure.

Number four: Internationals. Until recently (this summer, I believe) the USA basketball powerhouse was struggling mightily against international competition leading to the realization that…hey, these other guys might actually be good. They were and they still are – and not just Europe, either.

Number five: Television. Want to know how to get really good at something? Watch someone who’s really good at it perform and then practice. Then watch and practice some more. Yes, skills and genetic make the greatest difference but the ability for the NBA to beam itself to every computer in the world will certainly help kids learn the moves by watching and studying, in turn becoming better players*.

* – US soccer fans can feel free to cling to this hope as well.

Of course there are numerous others (scouting networks, marketing opportunities, global warming, etc.) and not all are perfect for a global takeover plot, but they’re a start. Not much of one, though, as basketball still only has one prominent league located in one country. The NBA could outpost teams to London and Tokyo, but if teams currently think the Boston to L.A. cross country flight is bad, wait til they try a Trans-Pacific jaunt. But the room for expansion is there – somehow, someway. Whether it be bigger leagues in Europe with boffo financial backing or the creation of a teleportation device which eliminates long flights all while serving a respectable meal, something will happen in the future.

So you wonder what that means for football as it stands as the world’s game – and it is just that, with the World Cup proof enough. It’ll likely take some time and a plethora of big changes to knock the beautiful game off its pedestal, but the footing may not be quite as firm in the long run.