NBA Paris Games illustrate how women’s basketball can capitalize on French fandom

The GIST: As seen from the craze surrounding Victor Wembanyama’s first NBA game on French soil yesterday, the European nation is quickly becoming a basketball hotspot. And it’s not just the NBA that stands to benefit — women’s basketball is primed to capitalize on the American sports trend of going overseas. Ouais to go.

The context: Major U.S. men’s sports leagues have played marquee matches abroad for decades, with the NBA’s first game in France taking place in 1994. The NFL has benefitted from continued international expansion in cities like London, which has hosted a game nearly every year since 2007. Although U.S. viewership for these matchups has lagged, the NFL now claims over 14M British fans.

• These leagues do it for the same reason EPL and WSL teams are touring stateside: There’s global interest in these properties, so they’re meeting fans where they are. After the WNBA held its first game in Canada in 2023, fandom among Canadian sports fans doubled. Numbers don’t lie.

The country: France has long been a basketball haven. The country leads Europe in followers on NBA social platforms and French NBA players have drawn over 850M impressions, higher than any non–North American nationality. Most are there for Wembanyama: His San Antonio Spurs are the most-watched team on League Pass in France, where viewership has tripled since his NBA debut.

• While the WNBA hasn’t touched down yet in France, the league has played preseason games in Mexico, Canada, and the UK, and it plays its first international regular-season game in Vancouver this August. On the college side, Aflac has brought NCAA women’s basketball to Paris in its historic Oui Play tournament since 2023.

The opportunity: The NBA’s success in France offers a blueprint for how women’s basketball could further capitalize on the country’s hoops hype. There’s been clear interest in Olympic bouts between France and the U.S., with last year’s women’s gold medal match averaging 7.8M U.S. viewers and 6.5M French viewers, with a 9.3M peak — a solid number for a country of 68M people.

• More importantly, there’s space for companies to activate around these unique international matches, something Aflac has embraced and brands like Tissot are looking to do to broaden their reach. It’s called traveling.