The BAL announces a Season 4 pit stop in South Africa

The Basketball Africa League is coming to South Africa - what’s the potential of basketball in SA ? 🏀🇿🇦

For its fourth season, the National Basketball Association (NBA)’s BAL announced an expansion with a new conference and more games. The Kalahari conference will be played in Johannesburg and open the competition in March 2024.

South Africa is among the most developed sports market in Africa. The sponsorship market in SA is estimated to be valued at USD +450 million annually (according to a study by BMI Sport Info) 📺💰.

However, basketball in South Africa is still considered to be an underdog.

📺 The peak audience for the Cape Town Tigers’ final game in the BNLSA Basketball National League versus the the Tshwane Suns was 78K people.

🏉 In comparison, the DHL Stormers (Cape Town’s local rugby team)’s game against Ireland's Munster Rugby gathered 688,903 people during the Vodacom United Rugby Championship. While we have to consider the domestic vs international league element, the difference in numbers does show the potential for growth for basketball's audience in SA.

So why are we still bullish about South Africa’s basketball ?

An undeserved audience :

📲 The Cape Town Tigers’ have shown tremendous growth on social media : on Instagram alone, the franchise 112% followers organic growth in 4 months. They are now toe-to-toe with the Western Province’s cricket team (in a country where cricket is considered to be the third most popular sport).

The fans appetite for more Cape Town Tigers (and basketball) content is a sign that there is an audience for basketball in the country, it is simply underserved and the BAL’s Kalahari conference is going to address that specific market.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏾 Potential of brand activations :

South Africa is a hub for a lot of international franchises which can benefit from the "lifestyle" positioning that comes with basketball. The BNL was supported by Krispy Kreme, FILA and PUMA Group South Africa. In 2015, the NBA game in South Africa was supported by brands such as Ford Motor Company and local African brands like Econet Group and South African Airways.

The NBA historic’ presence in South Africa : Johannesburg has been the HQ for the NBA in Africa since 2010 : the office was opened on the sidelines of the South Africa’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup. Ever since, the NBA’s corporate presence has grown and key partnerships have been secured. This will definitely come as an advantage to grow the BAL's popularity in South Africa.