Australia’s NBL snares top NBA executive Matt O’Brien

Australia’s National Basketball League has poached one of the American NBA’s top commercial executives.

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James.

Australia’s National Basketball League has poached one of the American NBA’s top commercial executives, hot on the heels of its coup in luring Andrew Bogut back from the USA to play in the NBL next season.

The Weekend Australian can reveal the NBL has hired Matt O’Brien, who has until now run the global corporate partnership development division of the Cleveland Cavaliers, home of the world’s biggest basketball name, LeBron James. O’Brien will take up a new role as the NBL’s Chief Commercial Officer.

O’Brien has revealed he is coming to Australia because of what he describes as “exciting” developments for the NBL amid the Bogut signing: “The NBL is enjoying huge growth and is now rated among one of the best leagues in the world outside of the NBA,” he said.

The NBL’s owner, Larry Kestelman — the founder of internet service provider Dodo _ has told The Weekend Australian this week’s hires were part of his plan to make the local basketball league “an Australian version of the NBA”.

This week’s moves have come as audiences both in person and on TV have been on the rise for basketball, amid the rise in the NBA of Australian prodigy Ben Simmons, who is already being touted as a future Hall of Famer.

Crowds who are attending NBL games live have risen by 50 per cent in the three years Mr Kestelman took over the league, while audiences on ESPN for the NBA in the current US season are up 30 per cent compared with last year.

Cumulative average audiences for the NBL in the season just passed also rose by more than 40 per cent.

As part of an extensive interview, Kestelman said that three years after he took over the NBL — at a time it appeared to be on its last legs — he was looking to mirror the success of the NBA by producing a similar formula in Australia, including making it an addictive live entertainment experience for fans.

“We’re in the business of entertainment,” he said. “Having been to the NBA, it’s all about entertainment. As far as I’m concerned, we’re in the business of family entertainment — and we happen to play basketball in the middle of it.”

Kestelman said O’Brien brought “a lot of experience from his time working in the NBA, and will be a terrific acquisition for the NBL and its sponsors as we continue to grow the league”.

“We conducted a worldwide search for this role and have looked closely at the NBA as we have rebuilt the NBL over the last three years,” he said.

“Like the NBA, we are committed to delivering a world class entertainment product on and off the court. Matt will play a key role developing and building our business and ensuring we capitalise on the commercial opportunities for the NBL in Australia and globally as it continues to grow.”