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NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 13, 2010

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our conference call where we will be announcing the participating teams and host cities for NBA Europe Live 2010 presented by EA Sports. I'm pleased to welcome on our call today the NBA Commissioner, David Stern, and the president of EA Sports, Peter Moore. Each participant will make brief opening statements followed by questions and answers. I will begin proceedings by introducing the NBA Commissioner Mr. David Stern.
COMMISSIONER STERN: Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I'm very pleased to formally announce today that the Los Angeles Lakers, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks of the NBA, together with Regal FC Barcelona and AJ Milano from the Euro League, will play a series of preseason games this October as part of NBA Europe Live presented by our good friends at EA Sports.
This is the fifth year that we will be conducting NBA Europe Live, and we are so pleased that EA Sports continues to support this effort. As we look forward to playing games in Milan between Armani Jeans and the Knicks; at the O2 between the Lakers and the Timberwolves; at Bercy between the Knicks and the Timberwolves; and in Barcelona between the Lakers and Regal FC Barcelona; and the dates of those games are October 3rd in Milano, October fourth in London, October 6th in Paris, and October 7th in Barcelona.
In addition, there will be a series of fan zones in each city where our fans can participate in interactive events, experiencing the fun of basketball outside the arena, and there will be a series of community relations events demonstrating the commitment of the NBA and our Euro League partners and EA Sports to social responsibility and community activity.
With that, I would very much take pleasure in introducing Peter Moore, the president of EA Sports.
PETER MOORE: Thank you, David, and good morning from here, the EA headquarters in San Francisco. Good afternoon to those of you in Europe. As David says, this is the fifth year of NBA Europe Live, and EA Sports is proud to have been the presenting sponsor of each of those five years, and I couldn't be more delighted with the lineup of both the cities and the teams for this coming year.
This initiative has become the launch vehicle for our NBA Live franchise in Europe, and we're pleased yet again to play a part in helping the NBA expand its global footprint. We at EA see NBA Europe Live as an authentic platform for fans across Europe to enjoy exciting, real-life basketball games while also getting exposed to the interactive basketball experiences we create in our games here at EA Sports.
We're looking forward to this fall. Personally I can't wait to get out there to Europe again. This will be the fourth year that I have personally have gone out there and attended some of the games, and this is a very, very important part of the continued globalization of our basketball business.
Back to you over in New York, David, and thanks again to you and your team for helping make this work with us. It's always a pleasure to be with you over in the European marketplace.
COMMISSIONER STERN: The pleasure is always ours. I wish we could stay longer than four cities in five days, but we'll make the trip longer at another time.

Q. I have a question for Commissioner Stern, just about the possible expansion of the league to Europe. I don't know when, if it's in the close future or maybe in a few more years; I don't know if there were some plans for expansion in Europe or inside the U.S.?
COMMISSIONER STERN: There is nothing happening at this time. We are focused on growing the sport in collaboration with the Euro League and EA Sports and games such as this. We are focused on collective bargaining with our players so that we can have a new collective bargaining agreement, and we are watching in Europe to see what the right climate may be, but right now we have no immediate plan for expansion to Europe, although I think it's up there subject for discussion within a period of seven or eight years. But again, no hard plans.

Q. I want to ask Commissioner Stern if he can grade for us how much important it is for the NBA the Spanish market, and the Lakers are only playing a friendly game, or is it suggested to do some pre-camp?
COMMISSIONER STERN: The Lakers are only playing friendly, and the Spanish market with its rich tradition for us, because of our ongoing relationship in Euro League and ACB, I think that Spain is perhaps the strongest basketball market in Europe. We have our office now in Madrid; we are opening an office in Barcelona; and we really are very focused on the Spanish market.

Q. Mr. Stern, especially with the Knicks playing Milano in the next tour, which is your opinion about the impact of our three players in the NBA, especially Gallinari, who is playing with the Knicks, have had on the NBA in terms of bringing in the European audience for the NBA?
COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, I think that with Bargnani, Belinelli and Gallinari, we have gotten great contributions from the Italian players. Last night I was watching -- I actually watched TV, and I watched -- Bargnani had 33 points, and the Raptors managed to stay in the Playoff race. Gallinari had 24 points in the second half, and the Knicks won their last game of the season.
I think what is being demonstrated is that Italy is now contributing world-class basketball players, and I think as our Italian fans watch these players succeed in the NBA, more youngsters will play our game. And so we hope to continue that tradition and use the game in Milan to further grow our audience in Italy and encourage people to play our game.
I'm sure there are plenty of young Italians who are swinging golf clubs this morning based on the way Matteo did at the Masters, so we hope that they'll also watch their basketball players, as well.

Q. I'm just curious about the selection of NBA teams, a little bit about the process of who you guys choose. The Lakers are obviously a great draw no matter where they play, the Knicks and the Timberwolves maybe less so, at least at this point. Can you talk about how you went with especially those two teams and then particularly the Knicks?
COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, there is this gentleman named Gallinari on the Knicks, and it would appear that playing the team for which Mike D'Antoni played would be a good idea. And the Knicks and the Lakers and the Timberwolves haven't -- well, have volunteered, in effect, under our rotation system. That's all there is to it.

Q. There is, in fact, somewhat of a rotation? Do you eventually get through the entire 30 teams?
COMMISSIONER STERN: Yes, we do. We do. But some teams will volunteer a little bit more based upon their attempts to market themselves, even to get themselves better known on a global basis, to become more attractive to potential global players, and indeed for economic reasons another exhibition game away from their home base so they don't have to add yet another exhibition game. There are a variety of reasons that go into this interactive, iterative process. But these are the three teams, and it's really the best grouping from our perspective we've had in a while.

Q. Good morning, Commissioner. I know the NBA lawyers and team representatives from the NBA have been working on a possible deal with FIBA regarding the use of international players for their own national teams. Do you have an update on that situation?
COMMISSIONER STERN: I don't, other than to say that I don't know any reason currently why the arrangement that we have with FIBA will not be continued in its current form. I'm sure there are always some changes as we go along, but we're continuing our collaboration with FIBA and making our players available for international competitions if they wish to participate.

Q. From what I heard the teams are not too happy with this arrangement right now, and it puts them in a situation that they would like or at least keep the players out of the competition. They are the only ones; it makes them just look bad.
COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, but our arrangement with FIBA is that our teams -- if a player is well, if a player can get insurance, and if a player is not going to be unduly burdened by the participation, that it's between the player and the Federation, and our teams are not the ultimate decision makers. This is what we do for -- this is our approach to the arrangement with FIBA.

Q. Mr. Stern, just talking about the game in Paris between New York and Minnesota, they are not the most high rated teams in the NBA. Don't you feel it may be a problem in terms of populous access, unless you already know that LeBron James will be in New York?
COMMISSIONER STERN: I can assure you that I don't know anything, I'm just the commissioner. But we have no doubt that the game in Bercy will be a success. If I can recall, I think it may not have been the last game I went to but a recent game I went to, San Antonio against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The French fans like NBA. One way or the other, my expectation is that both New York and Minnesota will be more exciting teams going into next season than they were this year, and we're looking forward to the competition. And we always do well in Paris and Bercy.

Q. I just wanted to ask, I know you've touched on it a little bit in terms of which teams volunteer. Is there any reason why you've decided to have the Timberwolves come back to London for sort of the second time in three years? They were here in 2007.
COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, we had a good turnout last time for the Timberwolves. The Celtics may have had something to do with that, as well. But we begin the selection process almost immediately after the last one, and the Timberwolves enjoyed that experience very much. They thought it was good for their team bonding, and they said they would like to go again, and we said, okay. We have the Lakers and the Knicks for their reasons, and the Timberwolves were a good trio to round it out. No special reason one way or the other.

Q. I had a question on growing the sport, growing basketball globally, and I wondered if you could tell me how satisfied you are with the status of basketball in Britain at the moment, and what sort of plans there are to turn the encouraging sort of participation rates over here into a sort of viable spectator sport and a stronger domestic league in Britain.
COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, the beauty of what we do is we do it all over the world, and we watch different markets develop at different paces. With respect to UK, as you said, we're quite happy that the participation rates are very high for us in many age categories, second only to football, number one; number two, we think that the excitement will begin to build as we get to the Olympics. And our fans and potential fans in Great Britain will recognize what a great, easily played, diverse and welcoming sport basketball is.
Sophie Goldschmidt, who leads our European efforts and is headquartered with a band of mighty warriors in London, is out there working with sponsors, out there working with those in our merchandising group, working on the kinds of clinics and community events that characterize the growth of our sport and working on programs that will ultimately see the sport played more at the grass-roots level.
So for our UK efforts this is a very important continuing step to play the game at O2, bring our best-known team, the Lakers, to London and the UK. So we think this is progressing exactly as we expected it to, and our expectations are just for continued growth.
Sophie, do you want to add anything?
SOPHIE GOLDSCHMIDT: No, David, I think you've summed it up very well. Just to re-emphasize, the progress that's being made, we're very happy with the different partnerships that we've been able to develop, and especially leading up to 2012, which we think will just be another springboard for the sport overall. The future is very bright for us in the UK and throughout Europe.

Q. I want to ask the commissioner if choosing Barcelona as a city and a team to play was the idea of the NBA, or was it the Lakers that chose Barcelona instead of Madrid, for example, like in past years because it was Pau's former team.
COMMISSIONER STERN: I think it was our sense, the NBA, that having just as Gallinari would play in Milano and be coached by Mike D'Antoni, so would it be a good idea for the Lakers and Pau Gasol to return to Barcelona. We played Memphis there against SC Barcelona. I think I remember attending that game some years ago, as well.
We like to bring the hometown player back to have his fans, and given the popularity of Pau in Spain, but particularly in Catalonia, we think that's a great idea.

Q. David, you were talking just a minute ago about bringing a player back to his hometown. You did the same thing with Luol Deng playing for Chicago at the O2 last October. Was it difficult to follow that up in terms of the impact it makes, and is that why the Lakers have been chosen this time around?
COMMISSIONER STERN: You know, not specifically, but I think that we have a place where a lot of decisions get made, and then they tell me what they are, and then I get credit for them or blamed. But I think that's a good reason. I mean, it is hard to follow Luol, but bringing the world's best-known basketball team to the O2 is a good idea. It's a great follow-up step, and it's -- the only thing better than that or equal to that is taking them on to Barcelona where the hometown crowd can see Pau.
So there's triangulation that continually goes on by us, and we think we've come up with a good solution.

Q. Just from a basketball fan standpoint, are you curious to see what the Knicks are going to look like when they take the court next fall?
COMMISSIONER STERN: I'm always curious about what all 30 teams are going to look like. You know, I actually watch NBA League Pass so I can see all of our games in progress, and I'm sure everyone on this call subscribes to either League Pass or League Pass Broadband so they can see all of our games on their computers. And I hope everyone all over the world is as curious as I am; it will help our ratings in the 215 countries and territories in which our games are televised.

Q. Was there any consideration to having Minnesota be the team to play in Barcelona, given Ricky Rubio, or was this decided before --
COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, it's an interesting twist, isn't it? I can't take credit or blame for it, but I think it's interesting that the team that holds the draft rights to a very good player for Barcelona is there. Maybe Ricky will be inspired to follow the team back.
But I don't believe that; that really wasn't the reason at all. It's just sort of an added plot twist that makes it interesting.

Q. I would like to know what the official position for the NBA regarding the World Cup?
COMMISSIONER STERN: What is the official position of the NBA regarding the World Cup?
THE MODERATOR: World Championships, I think.
COMMISSIONER STERN: The World Championships, oh. I mean, the official position is that we are encouraging our players to represent their countries. We think that the World Championship of Basketball continues to grow. We think that there will be a good competition in Turkey, and that will be a good lead-in to the Olympics in London, which will be a good lead-in to the World Championship in Spain in 2014.
We have been cooperating with FIBA on that for many years, and we hope to see that competition of national teams continue to grow. I hope I've answered your question.

Q. Commissioner, what do you think about the words of Mr. Colangelo regarding the position of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and maybe Kobe Bryant in order for them to go to the Worlds?
COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, I think that the position that he has eventually articulated is that given the contributions that our players have made by going to past Olympics, past World Championships, past qualifying rounds and the like, that it would almost be taken into account to decide whether a player must participate every two years or three out of four competitions or whatever. But that's for Jerry Colangelo to do. He's the head of USA Basketball, and very supportive of his efforts, because he has done a great job in building up the program in making American basketball players at all levels, on the men's, women's, under-23, under-19, he's done a great job of developing the USA Basketball profile and program, and really helping with FIBA to build the growth of our game on a global basis.

Q. Mr. Stern, first of all, did you already tell to Gallinari and D'Antoni that they are going to play with their former team? And the second question, in Europe we have a big problem with the economic crisis; I mean, in soccer, for example, many of the teams are almost bankrupt, and we see what's happening in England with Liverpool and many other clubs. How did the economic crisis affect the NBA, and are you afraid that with foreign owners like the Russian owners of the New Jersey Nets that the NBA could be in danger?
COMMISSIONER STERN: Well, first of all, Danilo and Mike know that their team is going. We've been in touch with them, and they're very anxious to come. They're happy to come and pleased to be leading the NBA in Milan. In fact, one of the early photos I have is in 1987; Mike was the captain of the Milan team - his shorts were very short - in Milwaukee in the first McDonald's Championship, and I have a photo of Mike, Boris Stankovic and myself opening the game. And so we think that's great.
We follow football in Europe very carefully for sport and economic reasons, and we feel very strongly that our salary cap is something that will -- although economic circumstances will affect us as they affect everybody, and our growth has slowed considerably from what it was because of the downturn in the world economy, the salary cap protects us from having our teams spend in a way that is destructive to the league. And we're very familiar with the spending patterns in Europe, in England, in Spain, in Italy, and it's a fact that you can't keep spending so much; if you're going to spend much more than you take in, it doesn't work. That's one of the contentious issues for our collective bargaining negotiations now.
But as the international owners, we have strict rules enforcing our cap, and we expect them to comply fully with that. And I think that the experience in let's say the EPL is not just about international owners overspending. Everybody overspends, regardless of their country of origin, and that's not a good thing for the health of the sport.

Q. A question about the World Championship. Do you think the NBA owners should let the player go if they want?
COMMISSIONER STERN: Would somebody clarify that question for me, because I had a little trouble hearing on this connection.
THE MODERATOR: It's about the players being liberated to play for the national team.
COMMISSIONER STERN: I wouldn't call it liberated, but I think it's up for the player to decide. Our rules are that if insurance is covered, the player is not injured, and those two things, then it's up to the player and the Federation to decide.
I know that for the years, many years, that our agreement with FIBA has been in effect, we have many owners who have expressed disquiet at the situation, but the agreement with FIBA continues.

Q. Are you still committed to staging a meaningful regular season game at the O2 in London before the 2012 Olympics, and if so, do you have a date in mind?
COMMISSIONER STERN: Only if you'll take out the word meaningful.

Q. Okay, I've taken it out.
COMMISSIONER STERN: So rephrased, the answer is that in addition to the meaningful friendlies that we will be playing in '11 and '10, it is my expectation that prior to the Olympics, as I said, that we will play regular season games in London. I'm sticking with my projection. Don't ask me for any more details, but I make that statement fully expecting to deliver on it.

Q. How do you see the relation of the NBA for the next five years?
COMMISSIONER STERN: How do I see the development of the NBA for the next five years?

Q. Yes.
COMMISSIONER STERN: Where, in the U.S.? In Europe? I think that my projection is that the NBA will continue to grow in the United States, albeit at a slower rate than it has in the past.
We think that the digital growth with respect to streaming of our games, mobile applications and the like, are going to grow dramatically. That's an area where we expect to continue our great partnership with EA. As more and more of our experience goes on-line in addition to cartridges, and as it's so easily accessible on a global basis. I think that's why EA is partnering with us as they introduce new games, both in cartridge form, on-line and for all formats.
I think that that will fuel our international growth, as well. That may lead some day to the placing of franchises, but we think that our partnership with EA is an essential partnership for the growth of our game.
I was just reading an article that said there were five billion cell phone subscribers on a global basis. It seemed a little high to me, but I accepted it was the UN organization that projected it, and I know when my friend Peter Moore thinks about that, he thinks about people walking around with cell phones playing games. I hope they're going to be NBA games, and if they're not, I hope they're streaming NBA highlights. And I think ultimately the games and the highlights are going to be the same application, and it's going to grow our game dramatically.
How's that, Peter?
PETER MOORE: That's excellent, David. If this commissioner gig ever doesn't work out for you, there's a job here at EA.
COMMISSIONER STERN: All right, I'm on my way (laughs).
THE MODERATOR: I think on that note we'll end proceedings for today. This concludes the call. Thank you, David. Thank you, Peter, and a transcript will be made available and sent to media afterward.

End of FastScripts

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