Senegal will host the Sahara Conference of the Basketball Africa League (Bal) from May 4, as part of the competition’s fourth season. Over the past four seasons, the Bal has established itself as a major sporting event in Africa. It’s a professional basketball league that pits teams from across the continent against each other in a regional conference format.

This year’s Sahara Conference, held in Dakar, follows on from the Kalahari Conference (held in Pretoria) and the Nile Conference (held in Cairo). The play-off finals will be played in Rwanda, which has been banking on the visibility and economic ecosystem that such a competition would generate in Africa.

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The fact that the promoters of the Bal, including compatriot Amadou Gallo Fall and officials from the NBA and Fiba-Africa, have done everything in their power since the inception of the project to ensure that Senegal plays a major role in the event, is something to be ashamed of. The advantages offered by our country in terms of hotel facilities, sports infrastructure and the development of sporting culture have always motivated the Bal organizers to keep Senegal as an obligatory stage of their competition, but the reluctance of our leaders to support this championship in any substantial way may have dampened some of the promoters’ ambitions.

As in previous editions, the Bal pits 12 teams from across the continent against each other, with matches broadcast by several international media, including Canal+Afrique for our zone. In three seasons, the competition has been followed in over 120 countries. This puts the spotlight on the host countries of the conferences, while generating considerable economic spin-offs. A whole ecosystem is organized during the week when the Bal is held in Dakar. Last season alone, the event in Dakar injected over 3 billion F Cfa into the economy, thanks to the contribution of various service providers and collaboration with Senegalese companies.

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The hotel sector also manages to make its numbers count during this competition, with no fewer than 500 players from the basketball and related sectors in attendance, not including supporters of some of the competing teams who make the trip to watch their champions play.

Rwanda, host of the first edition in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, sniffed out the opportunity to sign a 3-year exclusive contract to host the final phases of the competition from 2022 to 2024. Paul Kagame’s country is renewing this lease to further promote tourism in Rwanda and showcase major companies and initiatives “Made in Kigali”.

The Nba, in its strategy to further popularize these competitions in Africa, has advocated organizing the Bal into different rounds on the continent to reach Southern Africa, North Africa and West Africa (the three geographical zones with the highest basketball audiences). When you realize that our continent, with its youth, offers the audience most likely to be loyal over the long term, it’s easy to understand why leagues like the National Football League (Nfl, American soccer) are banking on the African vein to increase their fan and spectator base.

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The whole spirit behind the Bal is to set up a sports league that creates value. The partnership between the French Agency for Development (Afd) and the Bal gives an idea of the growing impact this sports league is having on the continent’s youth.

This Nba competition, in collaboration with Fiba, also aims to bring an international-standard sports league to the continent, enabling the development of local leagues and the rapid integration of talented African players into the international circuit. Africa has been a breeding ground for Nba talent for the past decade, with successful training programs. Players from Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt and Tunisia are beginning to play an increasingly important role in university leagues, and many of them will end up in the Nba. To have a league where all these talents can be introduced to the continent’s youth, before blossoming on the world stage, is an unprecedented opportunity.

The establishment of the Nba Academy in Mbour a few years ago is testimony to the success of training on the African continent, with programs that are highly reputed.

Many initiatives have been taken to manage sports infrastructures in Senegal, notably with the Dakar Arena and the President Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio, but hosting a regular event like the Bal could further enhance the attractiveness of our country as a sports destination. All the infrastructures built for the Youth Olympic Games should be used efficiently after this event, and we need to start thinking about sustainable operating models now. On several occasions in the columns of Le Quotidien, we have discussed ways of managing sports infrastructures, presenting models found elsewhere, notably with the naming of stadiums, which is very common in Southern and North Africa. Between the recurring tug-of-war between our federations and the organizations temporarily entrusted with the management of these infrastructures, there are real opportunities to create value.

For this new Bal conference in Senegal, it is to be hoped that the Senegalese public will turn out en masse to support the Gabelous, who came close to pulling off the feat last year in Kigali. The Dakar Arena provided a crazy, electric atmosphere, much to the delight of basketball fans.

This year, I hope that the Senegalese authorities will reap the rewards in terms of opportunities, visibility and value creation that the Ball offers. Ball in the centre, game on!

By Serigne Saliou DIAGNE / saliou.diagne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH