Stern: 'For sure' there'll be multiple NBA teams in Europe in 20 years
There was a time when Stern had dreams of a team or even a division in Europe, a first in American sports. He was determined to devise a way for a group of teams in London, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, and Berlin to compete with the 30 stateside NBA teams and even have a real world championship series.
Regardless of how uncomfortable the idea made fans who believe 30 teams was enough -- and regardless of how inconceivable it might be to have a team in a time zone six hours ahead of the Eastern US -- Stern was going to add the London Abbeys to the NBA.
That idea died on the operating table though, because the international economy went rotten and because there aren't any NBA-style arenas overseas.
Which is why Stern put the 20-year timetable on it. Because within that time frame, someone is probably going to build an NBA arena with luxury boxes and concessions and 20,000 seats. Once that happens, an expansion team in London or Barcelona is probably an inevitability.
[...]
Well, consider this:
A flight from New York to London is roughly seven and a half hours. A flight from New York to Los Angeles is roughly six hours. So in the same way schedule-makers set up West and East Coast road trips, it would probably be the same for European trips. It would complicate NBA travel for sure, but it's possible.
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...pe-in-20-years
