The NBA is now regarded as the most television- and marketing-sway of all the major sports leagues (Heisler, 1996). A key event in obtaining this status was the league’s 1983 agreement with the NBA Players Association that instituted a salary cap while guaranteeing players a substantial portion of league revenues.

This led to labor peace unprecedented in other major professional sports and encouraged the players and league to work jointly for the growth of the league. This agreement has been labeled the beginning of the “enterta­inment marketing revolution” (Jensen, J., 1994, p. 4).

From this point, the league started to take advantage of some of the game’s inherent characteristics such as the confined (i.e., television-friendly) playing space, the small number of players that contributes to an emphasis on “stars,” and the interna­tional popularity of the game.

The success of the NBA’s approach was such that league revenues grew from $140 million to $1.1 billion from 1983 to 1993 (Schaaf, 1995, p. 30).

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National television money grew from approximately $27 million per year in 1982-86 to at least $660 million per year in the present 1998-2002 contracts with NBC, TBS, and TNT (“TV pays, ” 1994). Even before the latest contract, the average NBA team media revenue of $14.9 million per year was close to the gate revenue of approximately $16.5 million per year (Schaaf, 1995, p. 218).

The NBA has been adept at extending its global influence. League games are now seen in over seventy countries, the league has expanded to Canada (Toronto, Vancouver), exhibition and even regular season games have been played in Japan and Mexico, and teams compete in the international McDonald’s Open tournament (“Global NBA, ” 1997).

One of the primary means of the NBA’s entry into the international market was its takeover of the operation and marketing of USA Basketball which over-sees US involvement in international competition. This, of course, is the instrument through which NBA stars now compete in the Olympics and other events.

USA Basketball is now marketing US women’s Olympic basketball, and the NBA has established the US-based Women’s NBA (Hiestand, 1995; “Inception of, ” 1996). The NBA has been a pioneer and innovator in both domestic and international sports marketing.

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These efforts have placed the league in a position to be one of the largest contributors to and beneficiaries of the increasing globalization of the television and advertising industries.