\n
\nNEW YORK:\u00a0Africa offers a vast underdeveloped market for global sports, with thousands of athletes ready to join international ranks if only there were major investment, industry leaders and stars say.<\/p>\n
\nBut more government and private-sector partnerships are needed to turbo-charge African sports and bring young players into top-tier leagues of football, basketball and even American football, participants at a business forum said Monday.<\/p>\n
\nIn the event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, NBA commissioner Adam Silver hailed Africa as bursting with sporting potential, noting that more than 10 percent of players in the world\u2019s premier basketball league were born in African countries or have African parents.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cInvariably more NBA, WNBA players will be discovered, will be nurtured, will be developed and then be able to play at the highest level,\u201d he said of the region\u2019s younger generations and the benefits of expanding youth training programs there.<\/p>\n
\nSilver also stressed that in order to attract the \u201cliterally billions in investments that are needed,\u201d sport in Africa must be seen as economically viable.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIn order to persuade … great businesspeople to invest in the infrastructure, we have to demonstrate that it\u2019s a real business \u2014 that there is real return over time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nThe forum featured former NBA stars like Congolese-American Dikembe Mutombo, WNBA sensation Chiney Ogwumike who is of Nigerian origin, and current Toronto Raptors power forward Pascal Siakam, a Cameroonian who caught the attention of scouts at a Basketball Without Borders camp in South Africa.<\/p>\n
\nAmerican football too has beefed up its presence. More than 100 current NFL players are African, according to Osi Umenyiora, a Super Bowl champion who leads an NFL initiative to expand the pipeline of new talent from places such as Ghana and Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFrom a business standpoint it would actually make sense to me to start making business in Africa now,\u201d Umenyiora told the audience, adding the NFL has recently opened new player camps in Africa.<\/p>\n
\nThe discussion comes along the launch of the new African Super League, which is dangling major prize money for the 24 football clubs that qualify for the first edition next year.<\/p>\n
\nConfederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe said that while Africa\u2019s link to European and American leagues is \u201cimportant,\u201d the Super League \u201cwill attract billions of dollars in football in Africa to pay the smartest and most talented young Africans and keep them on the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nRecent 100-meter hurdles gold medalist Tobi Amusan, who in July became Nigeria\u2019s first world champion in a track and field event, warned that Africa\u2019s lack of infrastructure including training facilities could fuel a migration of athletes.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m not saying don\u2019t go to other places,\u201d Amusan, who herself is based in Texas, told AFP.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cBut if the government and private sector have stuff like this implemented in Africa, we keep our own grounded in our countries and not just have them wander away to other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe head of the region\u2019s new top-flight basketball league also spoke of the delicate balance between international player recruitment and sports development on the ground.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAfrica needs to cease being just an exporter all the time,\u201d said Amadou Fall, president of the Basketball Africa League, which launched last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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