NBA open to regular-season game at Real Madrid’s Bernabéu

NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum stated the league is open to taking part in a regular-season game at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the house of soccer powerhouse Real Madrid.

The NBA has by no means performed an abroad game in an outside soccer stadium, and Tatum’s remarks had been made after the Dallas Mavericks’ preseason loss to Real Madrid Baloncesto at the WiZink Center in Madrid on Tuesday.

The WiZink Center can accommodate simply over 17,000 spectators for basketball, whereas the Bernabéu holds up to 85,000 followers for soccer.

“I’ve had the opportunity to see the new Bernabéu, and it’s incredible what they’ve done there,” Tatum instructed reporters Tuesday in Madrid. “I’ve seen the system with which they raise and lower the grass. It will be a world-class stadium. If the circumstances are right, we would love to play there.

“… It additionally counts that it’s a huge market with an vital custom, like France, the place the [Olympic] Games are going to be performed subsequent yr,” Tatum said. “There are different markets that we glance at; Germany, Spain, Italy are vital markets for us. Some of them are conditioned by the truth that they do not have these amenities, though there are new tasks. We are open to holding video games elsewhere.”

Tatum said the league would need “a world-class pavilion” that meets “sure requirements,” citing London as the highest instance in Europe.

Tuesday’s preseason NBA game was the primary within the Spanish capital since 2016, when Luka Doncic and Real Madrid hosted — and beat — the Oklahoma City Thunder. Doncic additionally performed for Madrid towards the Boston Celtics the yr earlier than.

The game was the NBA’s eighth within the Spanish capital and twentieth in Spain, coming 35 years after an NBA staff first performed within the nation in 1988.