Would a World Cup for Basketball ever Work?
There’s been a lot of discussion about the role of NBA stars in Olympic competition recently. Owners don’t want their investments risking injuries while the players want to play and represent their country. Its an interesting back and forth.
With that said, there’s another caveat that has begun to come into play and has been discussed in stories on Yahoo and additional sources.
Some NBA owners have started expressing their displeasure on watching IOC and FIBA monetizing on their “product.” For example, Dirk participates in FIBA and the Olympics and while doing so, FIBA and IOC market the player, create revenue from the player and get to capitalize financially on the relationship in many avenues. Owners are beginning to look at it as: if Dirk is my “investment” and my “product” that I’ve helped create, its not fair that you get to capitalize on what I currently “own”. In essence saying: why are you allowed to reap the reward while I’m forced to take the risk?
So whats the alternative? The NBA owners try to eliminate their players roles in these international tournaments and create their own, the World Cup of Basketball similar to the World Cup of Soccer. Mark Cuban was recently quoted as saying:
“The question is: Why would we partner with a current tournament rather than start our own?” ”If done correctly, it can be NBA-owned and operated and have the potential to be just as large as the World Cup of soccer. That is a product, in my opinion, we want to own, not share.” – Cuban
We discussed this very topic on a recent show: Can a World Cup of Basketball even exist? Is it inappropriate for NBA owners to try and take control of something as big as the Olympics? Do you think they’re being greedy or do they have a point? You can listen to our thoughts on the subject below:
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