Scott Levy, ”NBA Globetrotter‪”‬ The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast by Marcus Luer

Scott Levy, a globetrotting senior US sports executive with a stellar resume and decades of achievements in the NBA.  Get an inside scoop into the growth of the NBA internationally, and Scott’s role and journey over more than two decades with the organization.
 
Key Highlights
Passion for traveling inspired early after University, starting in the advertising world with Y&R and McCann-Erickson in New York City with a goal to combine his passion with work
Joining the NBA in 1996 working in marketing and moving in Media and international television distribution
His first decade at the NBA unpacked (1996-2006)
Massive growth of global distribution, especially country by country deals – media a big focus of then Commissioner David Stern
Over 20 deals in China alone, Shanghai Media story 
Clear strategy to keep everything in house, not using agencies – Scott explains the reason behind it 
David Stern, always pushing his team to get better, be the most educated guy in the room 
The impact of players on growth,  Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki and the US superstars from MJ to Kobe Bryant
The different impacts of Yao and Dirk in their respective territories, Kobe and LeBron, social media exploits and travelling the globe 
Teams travelling globally to promote the League (pre-season games), comparing to European/UK Football Clubs.  Decisions are centralized and coordinated by the League
Initially teams often didn’t want to travel (Coaches preferred to train at home for pre-season) and now it’s a part of their global brand and team building

Teams been travelling since the 90s, first in Japan, up to 6-8 teams now regularly travelling each year, mostly teams playing each other
Teams now using Tours to expand fan base, bring in new sponsors, etc, also driven by more diverse group of NBA Team owners   

MJ Global Sports & Media – short 2-3 year break as consultant 
Back into the NBA for the second round (2009-2022)
Coming back as SVP & Managing Director for NBA Asia based in Hong Kong
His role, everything in region excluding Greater China (separate NBA China office), firstly “learn about Asia”
Philippines, highest basketball affinity in the world – mad about the game – Eric Spoelstra visiting the Philippines
India, important market and development started a decade ago
Basketball Africa League (BAL) success and model, potential for other regions?
NBA Digital platforms (NBA League Pass) – variety of feeds (Player, Refs & Mascot cams) different languages, local influencers calling a game in local language, different packages, fourth quarter pass, etc.  Very customized to each region and country. As low as US$ 20 dollars (correction to US$ 10 dollars comment) per season
Rakuten, important partnership in Japan (media partner) and globally
Short form content, very important for engagement, vertical video format, finding the right mix, longer content demand growing (20-60 min)
Local partnerships, depends on country, ie. Philippines, Australia and China has strong local partnerships
Junior NBA program – healthy livestyle focus, more opportunities to grow with local partners

Scott leaving the NBA, becoming a digital nomad, spending time between Asia and US – next moves
Consulting companies in Web 3 space     
NBA Top Shot, NBA an early adopter in NFT space – US$ 1 billion dollar worth of transaction 
Scott sees exponential growth in the Web3 space from metaverse to Dao’s – still early days 
NB2K – a form of a metaverse already,  NBA Fortnite – NBA All-Star Game content (16 million visiting NBA Hub in Fortnite)
His focus is on being heavily immersed in this space in the foreseeable future on his own
Final words on the current NBA Play-offs and teams in the Conference Finals 

 
About
SCOTT LEVY, Executive Vice President & Managing Director, NBA Asia
As Executive Vice President & Managing Director of NBA Asia, Scott Levy oversees development and expansion of the NBA’s branding and basketball initiat