ASC Ville de Dakar takes on Union Sportive Monastirienne in the BAL Sahara Conference final at Dakar Arena in May 2025.
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From lively street courts to packed arenas, basketball is growing in popularity across Africa — and becoming big business
In 2021, the NBA debuted the Basketball Africa League (BAL), its first professional league outside North America. Now, it is selling teams to private investors through a multimillion-dollar bidding process
NBA Africa says the BAL has contributed more than $250 million to Africa’s economy since its launch and created almost 37,000 jobs. By 2034, it says that figure will grow to $5.4 billion, with more than 650,000 new jobs over the next decade
Now in its sixth season, the BAL features 12 African teams, which qualify by winning domestic leagues, playing 42 games across three cities: Rabat in Morocco, Pretoria in South Africa, and the Rwandan capital Kigali
NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi told CNN the league has been a “proof of concept” showing “that Africa is ready for, and that there’s demand for, a sports brand, an entertainment brand that we can have on the continent at a premium level. We’ve proven that there is elite talent on the continent.”
Currently, all teams must qualify each season to play, but NBA Africa wants to turn them into permanent businesses that would compete in the BAL ever year
In May, the league hosted its first Investor Day, in Kigali, where around 100 prospective investors learned more about the right to permanently own and operate a team in the BAL
Investor-owned franchises, Akamanzi said, would let teams “really make money” through merchandising, ticketing, media rights and events — a more predictable structure that she says “really unlocks the value of the league.”
Franchises will be sold through a bidding process, Akamanzi said, “in the tens of millions of dollars.”
Home crowds pack the Dakar Arena at the BAL’s Sahara Conference final in May 2025.
NBA Africa does not publicly disclose financial information, but a 2024 Bloombergreport that claimed the BAL had lost millions of dollars in its first seasons was disputed at the time by the NBA
Among those eyeing a stake was two-time WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike. “I’m trying to get in. I have to,” she said. “Basketball has always been something that can transform lives.”
“Being here in Kigali, it’s cool to see the new sport renaissance happening through basketball, so that young girls like my sisters and I can actually fulfill their dreams,” she added
Investor interest is coming from Africa and abroad, said NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum, stressing the importance of local ownership
“The African market is so important,” he told CNN. “Eleven of the 20 fastest-growing economies in the world, a young population … we see this as a terrific opportunity to really take basketball and make it a driver of economies.”
But the league’s expansion has not been without controversy. Human rights group Amnesty International has criticized the NBA’s partnership with the Rwandan government — a crucial BAL partner whose “Visit Rwanda” logo appears on all player jerseys. Last year, it urged the league to review the relationship considering accusations of atrocities committed in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo by the M23 armed group, widely believed to backed by Rwanda
Amnesty International said that in February 2025, Tatum responded with a letter stating that the NBA follows US State Department guidance abroad. This season, Rwandan basketball club APR, owned by the country’s military, withdrew after the US sanctioned the Rwanda Defense Force in March
For the franchise model to succeed, Africa needs infrastructure to match. In Kigali, the 10,000-seat BK Arena hosted the first four BAL finals, as well as the 2026 final
<img src="https://todaytrendnews7.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/ca-still-5.jpg" alt="The recently opened Zaria Court at the heart of Kigali features a multi-purpose court, a hotel, restaurants and co-working space.”>
The recently opened Zaria Court at the heart of Kigali features a multi-purpose court, a hotel, restaurants and co-working space.
Recently inaugurated next to the arena is Zaria Court, a community and hospitality hub co-founded by Masai Ujiri, president of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and co-founder of Giants of Africa, a nonprofit using basketball to empower African youth through training camps and purpose-built courts
Ujiri believes BAL must spread to fulfill its potential. “It has to be in Nairobi. It has to be in Lagos. It has to be in Abidjan, in Accra, in Johannesburg,” he told CNN. “It has to get to other countries so we can create a tour, so we really commercialize and create economic value to this whole ecosystem.”
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