.nba

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Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Neustar
Type:	Brand TLD
Priority #:	839 - NBA REGISTRY, LLC

.nba is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is NBA REGISTRY, LLC.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"Founded in 1946, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is a global sports and media business that features three professional sports leagues: the NBA with 30 teams in the United States and Canada, the Womenʹs National Basketball Association (WNBA) with 12 teams, and the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) with 16 teams, each of which is affiliated with one or more NBA team. Additionally, the NBA has a longstanding relationship with USA Basketball, the national governing body for basketball in the United States.

Together, these unique and diverse properties represent the highest level of basketball in the world, featuring exhilarating games and intense competition. NBA basketball and its associated trademarks enjoy enormous popularity with sports fans and the general public alike. Hundreds of millions of fans have attended NBA games, enjoyed television and radio broadcasts of games, and other NBA events. Millions of fans have purchased merchandise bearing the trademarks of their favorite NBA teams. The NBAʹs trademarks are some of the most renowned and immediately recognizable marks in professional sports today.

The NBAʹs reach is truly global. Current NBA rosters feature 75 players from 36 countries and territories. On average, millions of viewers worldwide tune in regularly to watch televised NBA games, which are broadcast in more than 40 languages, reaching fans in 215 countries and territories, including on NBA TV - the NBAʹs own channel, which was available in over 60 countries during the 2010-11 season. Domestically, more than 230 live NBA regular season games this year will be broadcast nationally on ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV.

NBA merchandise is sold in 100 countries, on six continents and in more than 125,000 retail locations; NBA distribution channels include sport retailers, and department, specialty, mass, food, home goods and drug stores. Overall, more than 300 licensees manufacture, sell and market NBA products worldwide.

The NBA trademark portfolio is equally global in scope. It contains over 1100 trademark registrations in countries throughout the world of marks that contain or consist of NBA or NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION and that cover a wide spectrum of goods and services - from basketballs and clothing to basketball entertainment services and broadcasting services.

Internationally, the NBA hosts basketball tournaments, exhibition games, community events, and other grassroots programs in more than 90 cities and nearly 30 countries outside the United States. Events have included successful NBA exhibition games at the NBA China Games and NBA Europe Live.

The NBA also seeks to give back to its fans and their communities. NBA Cares, the leagueʹs social responsibility initiative, builds on the NBAʹs long tradition of addressing important social issues and promoting a healthy and active lifestyle in the United States and around the world. Through this program, the NBA, its teams, and NBA players have donated more than $175 million to charity, completed more than 1.8 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 675 places where children and families can live, learn, and play. Specific initiatives include promoting wellness through NBA Fit, raising environmental awareness through NBA Green, and sponsoring camps for talented young athletes worldwide through Basketball without Borders.

The NBA is as well-known online as it is offline. Its principal website, accessible at www.nba.com, averages tens of millions of page views per day, with more than 50 percent of the siteʹs visitors coming from outside North America. For international fans, the NBA offers 14 customized, language-specific international web destinations as part of NBA.com. During the current 2011-12 NBA season, NBA.com has already received nearly 3 billion page views and hosted 1.35 billion video streams. The NBA is also the highest ranked U.S. sports league on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, with the most likes, followers, and videos viewed on each site, respectively.

The purposes of the .nba gTLD are to create an online space exclusively dedicated to the NBA, to promote the NBA, its affiliated leagues and their teams, and to protect the NBA family of brands.

We are evaluating the opportunities that may exist to actualize these purposes of a .nba gTLD."