NBA drives into Indian market

The NBA is moving into the lucrative Indian market as the league continues its aggressive expansion campaign after a successful push into China, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

The NBA was expected to announce a new partnership with India's Times Group for a new basketball section on its website, which has 12 million readers a month.

Indian journalists from the Times Group will fly to America to cover the NBA Finals, which begin on Tuesday with a clash between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat.

The NBA Finals games will also be broadcast live on India's Ten Sports channel as the game's bosses try to generate support for basketball among the country's 1.15 billion people.

America remains the NBA's stronghold, helping it earn revenues of $4 billion each year. But 10 percent of that figure now comes from international markets, mainly China, which has been a focus for the game for the past 20 years.

"There's a market similarity if you take a fan in Shanghai, a fan in Barcelona and a fan in New York in terms of how they love the game," Heidi Ueberroth, president of the NBA's international operations, said.