Nba Wooing Latin America
Rob Levine’s job isn’t exactly a slam dunk.
Sure, he’s a vice president of the National Basketball Association, an organization widely hailed for its cutting-edge marketing wizardry.
But, while his colleagues in New York only have to sell their game to an already basketball-mad United States, Levine’s mission is to increase the popularity of the NBA in Latin America - a land where baseball and soccer have reigned supreme for a century.
Yet for Levine, running the NBA Latin America office in Miami has proven a win-win situation. He has watched the popularity of the sport south of the border grow by leaps and bounds and bottom lines.
“In just two years, we’ve seen extraordinary progress,” says Levine, 41, who has been with the NBA 12 years, most recently in Hong Kong, one of nine offices outside the United States. “There are more kids playing in basketball programs than ever. And the more you play, the more passion you have for the game, the more you want to affiliate with the game.”
And, in a world where the NBA is seen as the pinnacle of basketball, the more you want to watch American professional basketball on television, sport NBA-logo apparel and collect NBA trading cards and other memorabilia.
That means big money. Last season, the NBA counted gross retail sales of $3 billion worldwide from the sales of videos, computer games, apparel, memorabilia, and so on - $2.6 billion in the United States and $400 million elsewhere. By contrast, in the 1987-88 season, the NBA’s sales were just $300 million in the United States, $10 million outside.
Success puzzles Wilkens
Lenny Wilkens is the winningest coach in NBA history. Still, he’s having trouble explaining Atlanta’s emergence as one of the best teams in the league.
The Hawks won their eighth consecutive game Thursday, beating Orlando 78-67, and extending their home winning streak to 15 games.
“I don’t know if there’s a mystique,” said Wilkens, whose team (24-11) equaled the Chicago Bulls for the NBA’s longest current winning streak. “We don’t want to lose. We want to extend the streak as long as we can.”
Christian Laettner scored 22 points for the Hawks.
In other games
Karl Malone had 28 points and 11 rebounds as the Utah Jazz beat the Phoenix Suns 95-91 in Salt Lake City. … Hakeem Olajuwon scored 26 points before being ejected with 2:52 left and Charles Barkley was forced to leave because of a strained right ankle, but the Houston Rockets still beat Sacramento 89-80… . Isaiah Rider scored 30 points and Portland held off Los Angeles 102-98, ending the Lakers’ home win streak at 12.
xxxx COMING UP Tonight: Cleveland at Seattle, 7, KXLY radio (AM-920)