For its last event of the year 2023, the former Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy (Accor Arena) will be sold out on Saturday December 30. 15,843 spectators took their place to attend the “spectacle” meeting of French basketball: the All-Star Game of the French championship – “namé” Betclic Elite.
The best French players face the most talented foreigners in the league in a meeting devoid of sporting issues but full of American-style “shows” – dunk competitions, three-point shots, etc.
A year ago, Victor Wembanyama – then a Boulogne-Levallois player – finished MVP (Most Valuable Player, “best player of the match”) of this meeting organized by the National Basketball League (LNB) to highlight its best elements. And if the French phenomenon has since spread its wings for the National Basketball Association (NBA, the big North American league), its large footprint continues to mark the French championship.
New sponsors after “Wembamania”
President of the LNB, Philippe Ausseur recognizes that“there was a real risk of falling back into anonymity after Victor’s passage” for French basketball. But for the moment, all the signals are green, described in World the leader elected at the end of June. The fear of seeing theater attendance – boosted by the aura of “Wemby”, which everyone wanted to see before his departure for the NBA – decline, did not materialize. As in 2022, “the filling rate of the enclosures amounts to 84%”, assures Philippe Ausseur. Much higher than 79% in the pre-Covid-19 period.
Long a thorn in the side of French basketball, the broadcasting of matches is also one of the satisfactions of this first part of the season. Since obtaining the rights (in June), the paid streaming platform Skweek has tripled its number of subscribers. And when it broadcasts the best poster of each Elite day, the L’Equipe channel is, at times, the fifth most watched national channel.
The teams are far from complaining that the spotlight remains on the championship. With the exception of Limoges, Strasbourg and Boulogne-Levallois, all French clubs have seen their budgets increase this season; again, a consequence of comet Wembanyama. “Many sponsors arrived at the clubs because they saw the economic potential of the league. No one can deny what this kid brought to French basketball,” underlines Mr. Ausseur.
Only the Metropolitains 92 are struggling to continue after their enchanted year with “Wembamania”. Unaccustomed to the exposure it experienced, the Hauts-de-Seine club even almost disappeared during the summer, due to economic problems linked to tensions between the town halls of Boulogne and Levallois-Perret . Far from the second place obtained in June, he is now in last place in the ranking with two victories in eighteen matches.
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