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All systems go for a good season, says happy Stern

Posted on: Monday, 10 October 2005, 20:01 CDT

By Steve Ginsburg

NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Stern smiles broadly as he sits in a plush chair overlooking St. Patrick's Cathedral on bustling Fifth Avenue.

"I'm having as good a time as I've ever had," said Stern, when asked how long he planned to serve as commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). "All systems are go."

Stern has good reason to be happy: the league's popularity is skyrocketing overseas, a labor pact has quashed threats of a lockout and the Lakers' popular though temperamental duo of Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson have been reunited.

The bespectacled son of a New York delicatessen owner became the chief of the NBA 21 years ago, in the same year that the incomparable Michael Jordan entered the league.

While Jordan achieved unprecedented success on the court, Stern has reached the same level of achievement off it, turning an ailing enterprise into a bustling business with some $3 billion in worldwide revenues.

"I still enjoy coming into the office," Stern, 62, told Reuters in an interview at the NBA offices in midtown Manhattan.

"I'm busy working with our growing organization, our plans on globalization, technology -- from WiFi to cellphones to IPTV (television delivered over the Internet) -- developments that are going to keep sports at the epicenter of new technologies."

Stern said there were no plans to increase the number of NBA teams.

"I honestly don't see us expanding at the moment beyond our 30 teams," he said. "At some future date in a revamped league with new buildings, it's possible that a successor of mine might decide to put four teams in Europe. But I think that's off down the road."

Stern said the league would send four yet-to-be-named teams to Europe during the preseason next year, to play each other as well as European teams.

EXHIBITION GAMES

The NBA hoped to expand in Mexico, he said. Mexico City has already hosted games and Stern is now casting his eye toward Monterrey.

"I'd say that Monterrey is on our horizon as another Mexican city with higher than average income, large sports appetite, good hotels and good business infrastructure.

"My guess is that we'll be looking to play some exhibition games in Monterrey as well as Mexico City."

Only two international players were lottery picks this year, apart from Australia's Andrew Bogut who played at the University of Utah, but Stern feels the recent craving for non-U.S. players is not over.

"It's episodic and it depends upon the given year, what happens," said Stern. "I think it's possible that our international player contingent may approach 100 (from about 450 NBA players overall), up from the 85 that it was last year."

Stern denies the NBA has lost some of its luster after several players decided to stay in their native Europe rather than play professionally in the United States.

"There are some players who would be best off not exposing all aspects of their game to the NBA and that's okay," he said. "There are others who have decided that the grind -- the physical demands -- are much less in Europe.

"And as the economy gets better, there are actually high salaries in Europe... Nevertheless, we still get the best players."

The NBA is regarded as the only major North American sport poised to tackle the overseas market. Last season, NBA games were seen in 214 countries with broadcasts in 43 languages.

NBA TV, the league's 24-hour network, is available in 40 countries and its website, NBA.com, had 2.7 billion page views and 374 million total visits, more than half of which came from fans located outside the U.S.

In China, NBA merchandise is sold at more than 20,000 retail locations.

Labor PACT

Stern said he had been pleased to reach a collective bargaining agreement with the players' union earlier this year. He said one aspect of the pact, a new minimum age of 19 for NBA players, would make the league stronger.

Stand-out high school players will now have to go to college for a year or participate in the NBA's developmental league.

"This was a basketball decision," he said. "There will be no 18-year-olds sitting on the bench trying to observe. There will be 19-year-olds sitting on the bench but they will be a year more experienced.

"As a result, a better player will be available to help the team."

With NBA training camps in full swing and the regular season opening on November 1, Stern has high hopes for the league, perhaps highlighted by the return of nine-times NBA champion coach Jackson to the Lakers despite an often-stormy relationship with leading guard Bryant.

"Even though the champion (San Antonio) Spurs have improved themselves it would appear there are a lot of other teams that are coming into a very exciting competitive prospect," he said.

"Obviously the Heat have improved themselves, Phil Jackson and Kobe are together again, (Lakers forward) Lamar Odom is a year older and more developed, Larry Brown has been brought in to work his magic in New York.

"It's a very good year prospectively and all business indications are also very positive."

Source: REUTERS

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