How the NBA Made Inroads in India

The National Basketball Association has rosters featuring players from roughly 50 countries. But none from India. Scott Levy is working on that. As the NBA’s managing director for Asia, Levy spent the last 10 years building a youth and academy system in India. In 2021, its brought Punjabi player Princepal Singh to the NBA’s developmental G League. More importantly, it’s given 11 million boys and girls a chance to play in the league’s Junior NBA program for five- to 12-year-olds. NBA Asia director Scott Levy, left, and Bollywood star Ranveer Singh are guiding the league's push into India. - By NBA India That’s nearly triple the number of kids six through 12 that participate in basketball throughout the U.S., according to the Aspen Institute. With the NBA pouring more resources into India—naming Bollywood star Ranveer Singh an NBA Brand Ambassador earlier this year—Levy explains why India’s basketball breakthrough is imminent. This interview has been condensed and edited. Adweek: How long has the NBA taken an interest in India?Scott Levy: We've been operating in India for about 10 years now, and we've focused on building an audience and setting up an ecosystem where people can participate in the game and eventually move up through our youth programs into our academy. Simultaneously, we want to make sure that our content is widely available and people have the opportunity to experience the NBA across all the genres where we're authentic. That's the game on the court, but also music, gaming, technology and fashion. In such an enormous and diverse country, where does the NBA find its greatest success?India is a complex country with 1.4 billion people. Depending on which part of the country you're in, you have to make sure that your strategy to reach consumers is tailored to that area. We have some natural areas of affinity in the north: Areas like Punjab, where many of the national team players come from. In the south, in areas like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, there's interest in advancing technology. And when people have access to social media, that's an area where we spend a lot of time and make sure our content is available. On the other hand, in East and West Bengal, we have an extensive Junior NBA program. We're making sure that we are working with schools and teachers who may not have quite as many assets as some of the more wealthy parts of the country to ensure the infrastructure is in place and basketball continues to grow. How instrumental have NBA players and teams been to the league’s efforts in India?Kevin Durant was there just before the pandemic kicked in and he did a significant tour of India. We've had legends like Muggsy Bogues come in and run clinics for kids and work with local coaches. In 2019, we brought the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers to play two games that were the first ever NBA preseason games that we played in India. A critical piece of everything we're doing is making sure if you're in India, that you have the opportunity to personally experience the NBA and, hopefully, one day you'll also be able to come and be in one of our arenas in the U.S. Expansion and looking toward the future During the pandemic, how has the NBA expanded its digital presence in India and tailored it to that country’s audience?One of the key pieces is Ranveer Singh. He has over 60 million followers and he has been creating content around his passion for basketball itself. But he's also a fashion icon and, of course, a Bollywood superstar, so he is using all of those elements to connect with the local basketball community and a broader fan base. We've also partnered with additional local personalities who have anywhere from a few million to 45 million fans on social media. Back in September, we launched a new Instagram handle called NBA Style that was designed to introduce the NBA and the action on the court through something that has incredibly high value in Indian culture already. On the Junior NBA side, given the limitations introduced by the pandemic, we've had to move our entire program to a virtual program. We've had dozens of clinics where we've had thousands of kids running through these programs in their homes just as if they were in a gym with our coaches. Where the NBA goes, its culture follows. How has the league’s merchandise and retail partnership helped the league expand and get foothold in India?One of the partnerships that we expanded during all this was with Suditi, an online retailer in India. They greatly expanded their product selection and incorporated the NBA into their broader platform. We also had a unique partnership this year with the Lakmé Fashion Week. As part of the collaboration, they offered fashion designers from across India the opportunity to submit designs for the NBA 75 collection. The winning designer was announced during Lakmé Fashion Week in October and will now be mentored by a leading fashion expert. What role does the NBA see Ranveer Singh playing in its expansion efforts in the near future?We always want to be authentic and the people we work with, and Ranveer checks all the boxes. He's going to attend the All-Star Game in 2022 in Cleveland, where we're going to make sure he has tremendous access. He's also been featured on NBA Style. A post of him shooting a layup, for example, is generating about a million likes, so his knowledge and passion for basketball is going to be really influential for the popularity of the game. You worked on the NBA’s expansion into China and Southeast Asia. How does the NBA’s foray into India compare, and how close are we to seeing a stronger Indian presence within the NBA itself?Yao Ming often says his love of basketball came from watching the NBA while growing up in China. We want to make sure that people that have interest in basketball and aspirations, have the ability to follow the game and then to learn and improve their skills. We have a program called NBA Jump, which identifies people with a high enough level of basketball skill who can enter the NBA Academy, which we established about five years ago in India. In those five years, we've had 20 kids graduate from the academy that are now playing either in prep schools or universities in the United States. https://twitter.com/nbaindia/status/1422209702688018435 And then Princepal [Singh] came out of the academy and went to the G League, and he's currently playing in the [Australian] National Basketball League for the New Zealand Breakers. In a country with 1.4 billion people, I know that as we get more kids participating in the game, it seems inevitable that many successful NBA athletes will show up. Data and AI Bring Moneyball Methods to Level the Sports Marketing Playing Field

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