Leaders

NBA

Growing a Global Game

By Sean Gregory

In late March, Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, entered a corner conference room overlooking New York City for his first face-to-face interview with a journalist since the pandemic began. After taking over as commissioner in 2014, Silver has presided over an unprecedented expansion of pro basketball’s business: annual revenue nearly doubled from the 2013–2014 to the 2018–2019 seasons, to north of $9 billion. Before the pandemic, the league projected it would hit the $10 billion mark in 2020. Instead, revenue dropped some 10% during the pandemic-stricken season. Silver received praise for overseeing the completion of the NBA’s shortened 2020 season in the Orlando “bubble,” showing that businesses with strict testing and safety protocols can operate in the pandemic. He’s had a tougher time, however, managing this year’s unbubbled campaign, as teams are back to traveling and living in their home cities. The COVID-19 spread has led to myriad game postponements and players missing time. Over more than an hour at the NBA’s refurbished headquarters—parts of which some still-remote employees have yet to see—and in a follow-up phone call, Silver discussed with TIME lessons learned from the past year, the thinking behind his game plan and his willingness to adjust it in the seasons ahead.

Since you’ve become commissioner, has there been a decision you’ve made that’s helped achieve growth?

I often look at things from the vantage point of a wannabe technologist. When new technologies come, and whether that’s a smartphone or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, we’ve been very quick to embrace those new technologies. And to then work with those companies to see how they can be customized for an NBA experience. That’s something we continue to do. And blockchain and NFT just being the latest.

What might the NBA do in the NFT space?

There very well may be a blockchain application for ticketing. But from a fan standpoint, it will have less to do with the technology and more to do with, instead of throwing a ticket stub in your drawer, you pull out your smartphone and say to somebody, Here it is. This was that all-important game I attended. It’s going to enable a far richer experience for fans over time. We’re truly just scratching the surface.

What have been some of the key losses the NBA