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NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 3, 2010

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to welcome you to this press conference on the occasion of the first game of NBA Europe Live with NBA Commissioner David Stern and Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu. We'll hear from our guests and after that we'll have some questions.
Commissioner David Stern.
DAVID STERN: Actually, I'd like to introduce my colleague, the head of the Euroleague, Jordi Bertomeu.
JORDI BERTOMEU: Thank you, David. Thank you, Commissioner. It's a great pleasure for Euroleague to be here in Milan as we see that our efforts starting a month ago have now become reality. And this is even more a pleasure to see two of the main teams in the world.
Our main objective today is not waiting for the results of the match but much more promoting basketball. That's why we're working together.
What is important to us is that there's been a lot of talk about basketball in Milan during this week and on this day in particular. Therefore, I want to thank David and all of the staff for their great work and engagement.
Our relationship with NBA exactly has an objective of collaboration. This is what allowed us from 2006 to 2010 to organize 38 games with teams from both leagues. That was done in 25 cities, in eight countries, and that was televised in many countries around the world, which helped us very much in promoting basketball in the whole globe. This is a clear sign of our support and engagement.
Today, we kick off the NBA Europe Live here in Milan. This is the first time that we do so and then we will move on to London and Paris.
But we should also remember that European teams will move to the U.S. and play there. This will allow us to enjoy games from -- teams from both countries. That's why I want to thank In Front has been an asset from the very beginning and Electron Gas has been also supporting us very much, and all of our sponsors that have allowed us to enjoy this great event. Thank you very much.
DAVID STERN: Hi. It's a pleasure to be here in Milan again. We've played here many times. And I would like very much to thank our friend Jordi Bertomeu and the Euroleague for this cooperation.
I also want to join Jordi for thanking In Front for their cooperation and support putting this game on and, of course, the entire NBA Europe Live could not happen without our good friends at EA Sports. And I want to thank them again, together with our local partners.
Jordi mentioned that we were moving on to other games. Perhaps it got lost in translation, but we're going to Barcelona as well as London and Paris.
It also got lost in translation that Caja Laboral and CSKA Moscow are playing exhibition games in the United States, five games against the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. I've got you covered.
It's been exciting for us and for basketball here in Milano, as we had a dedication of a court in Courto Shadow, and we had 300,000 people at the Duomo yesterday afternoon, an extraordinary show of support for our sport of basketball.
I want to thank our partners adidas and Loreus Foundation, because they joined us in these activities together with a special Olympics clinic that NBA Legends conducted, and the Knicks.
It's an interesting and good time for international games where we will be playing in Mexico City later this month as well as in Beijing and Guongjo next week.
And the World Championships in Istanbul were exciting for the entire basketball world, but most of all we're glad that we have our continuing collaboration with our good friends at the Euroleague. Thank you very much.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Commissioner, will we see more of these games in the future or more regular season games like you have in London in the spring?
DAVID STERN: Thank you for mentioning the regular season games in London. That was not lost in translation. That was my fault. And the answer is I don't know. We don't make a big distinction between, for us, the friendlies and the fixtures. But it's a start in London, in March. And we hope to see more of those if we possibly can.
We have played regular season games before in Tokyo and in Mexico City. So it's not entirely new to us.

Q. Commissioner Stern, how high is the fear of a lockout for the NBA?
DAVID STERN: We're actually focusing our efforts so entirely on reaching a deal that we haven't gone into our risk assessment mode for a lockout because we're trying as hard as we possibly can to reach an agreement with our players. We've been talking for a long time. I think the atmosphere is cordial and open. We have provided the players with as much access as has ever been given to financial information, which is complete audited reports, tax returns, complete. And although I can't say that we have made great progress, both sides are committed to meetings and talking.
We met last week. We'll be meeting, I would say, several times in the fall. And we remain optimistic that with the energy on both sides we will be able to do it and reach an agreement. But you can ask me that question again in the springtime.

Q. David, what could you tell us about the State Department's security alert here in Europe?
DAVID STERN: I can tell you we're in touch with the State Department and all the appropriate U.S. authorities and embassies around Europe and that we are taking support security measures for all members of our traveling party. Believe it or not, including the media.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on LeBron James' comments recently on CNN about reaction to his decision and whatnot?
DAVID STERN: I don't understand what you mean.

Q. His implying that backlash against his decision is based on race.
DAVID STERN: Well, I guess I would say that, number one, I wish it were so that America was a post-racial society, but I don't think that would be quite accurate. That being said, I believe the vast majority of the reaction to LeBron, but not necessarily all, was not motivated by racial issues.
Did I answer your question?
There being no other questions, I want to say one more thing about Milano. I have a fond spot for it because the first international game that I traveled to as commissioner was actually here amongst a series of games in the summer of 1984. And we had the New Jersey Nets playing Milano at that time. I can't tell you whether it was Tracer Phillips or some of the other many names that it used to have. And I'm going to go too long for the translation, and my enduring memory is Darryl Dawkins picking up an official at the end of the game and running the full court with him. I will assure you it will not happen in tonight's game. Thank you for coming.

End of FastScripts

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