“Digital viewership is 100x linear television”: Rajesh Sethi, NBA

If you happen to pass by any outdoor basketball courts you would probably see youngsters playing box cricket or five-a-side football. Rarely does one see tall, young boys or girls flying across the concrete court to reach the basket. This lack of awareness or affection for the sport is often attributed to the unavailability of role models. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar credits the moment Kapil Dev lifted the 1983 World Cup as the moment that inspired him to hit a straight drive. Prakash Padukone's All England victory in 1980 inspired India to play badminton. “We need Indians to play in NBA,” says Rajesh Sethi, managing director, NBA India and he believes it would give basketball-awareness in the country, a well-needed boost. “That's my dream,” quips the newly-appointed India head.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America made up of 30 teams playing each other, home and away. The NBA has offices all around the world and as Sethi puts it, outside North America, India is one of the key markets for the league. Sethi, former chief executive officer of Essel Group's sports broadcaster, Ten Sports (now sold to Sony), joined NBA in September this year, taking over the reins from Yannick Colaco who held fort for more than six years.

Sony Pictures Networks India extended their NBA broadcast rights for five years in 2015, reportedly, for Rs 200-250 crore. While Sethi refused to share details about media rights, if sources in sports broadcasting are to be believed then the league is already negotiating with several broadcasters. “They are quoting five times what they got last time and are even willing to sell linear and digital separately,” says the source.

“India is will soon have its Yao Ming moment,” says Sethi while indicating that the league is not where it was five years back. Ming is the 7ft 6in Chinese player who played for NBA franchisee — Houston Rockets — and is often credited for popularising the sport in China (NBA’s biggest market outside South America). “Walking around China with Yao Ming is like walking through New York with The Beatles,” former Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson had said in Yao’s jersey retirement video. 500 million people in China said they had watched at least one match in the past year. In India, the NBA All-Star match between Team Giannis and LeBron, played in February 2019, witnessed a cumulative reach of 96.5 thousand (Source: BARC India). Due to the time difference, NBA matches are telecast early in the morning, a not-so-prime time for the Indian audience. “Digital media can change that,” asserts Sethi in an interview with afaqs! where he speaks about other aspects of the business, including the potential of starting a new professional league.