The NBA is betting again on Spanish talent to strengthen its structure in the region. The North American basketball league has signed Paula Sira to lead the sponsorship signing in Spainas you have learned 2Playbook. The directive will work from the offices in Madrid and will be integrated into the European sponsorship team.
Sira has extensive experience in the sports sector. After specializing in consulting and recruitment of digital and sales profiles, in 2021 she joined the consulting firm Samy Alliance as director of business development, the position she held until now. She is also an investor in the Aurora app.
NBA sources explain to this medium that Sira’s role “will be mainly focused on sponsorships in Spain.” However, they point out that “the organization of the NBA in Europe is very fluid and the borders are blurred a lot, since we all assume more responsibilities outside our geographical environment.”
The NBA thus seeks to give a greater boost to its sponsors in Spain. After the departure of Endesa, which chose not to renew its contracts with the NBA and Euroleague to bet on Spanish basketball, it works with partners on strategic projects such as Movistar+ and 2K, and with Slam, T3N, Owqlo and Tecnimede. The loss of physical events and the cancellation of preseason tours have had a strong impact on the league’s business outside the United States, although its evolution is unknown.
Sira relieves another Spaniard, Paula Palomino, who recently left the NBA to sign on Twitch as director of account sponsorships. Palomino had spent two and a half years in the basketball manager, and had previously worked for large accounts such as Banco Santander or Scotiabank, coordinating their sponsorships in Formula 1, FC Barcelona, Concacaf or Nascar, among others.
The signing of Sira to cover this loss reinforces a team led by Chus Bueno as vice president in Europe and the Middle East (Emea) and director of NBA Spain. Leading the sponsorship department for these regions is Mark Osikoya, which also includes marketing, merchandising and licensing agreements).
The league modified its continental structure last year to streamline and be able to work in parallel on sponsorships and the content and activation strategy. To do this, he divided this second department into a new one under the direction of George Aivazoglou. Within this new division of DTC, the marketing management has been integrated, which since last year has been in the hands of another Spaniard, Sergio Friede, promoted from NBA Spain.
They are not the only ones. Ignasi Castelló manages the communication direction of NBA Spain with support for the European structure. Others, such as Carla Palomo, were also promoted along with Friede in the new structure and is now in the DTC and growth division for Europe and the Middle East, a key market that the NBA hopes to continue squeezing in the short term after its agreement with the United Arab Emirates. United, among others.
On the other hand, Emilio García-Duarte is head of marketing for Latin America and Héctor Argüelles is in the digital sponsorship team in New York. Finally, Pere Capdevila works in the NBA Academies scouting department) and in the Madrid offices Adrián Carrión, Jorge Franco, Aaron Morales, Andrea Jiménez and Alex Hall also work in different departments.
The North American league does not specify what part of its turnover is derived from Spain or Europe. In the absence of knowing if the forecasts will be fulfilled, they were going to reach a global turnover of 10,000 million dollars (8,820 million euros) this year. The bulk of the business is provided by ticketing, with 40% of the total, followed by audiovisual contracts (35%). Sponsorships account for around 20%, with the rest derived from other lines of business such as licensing deals with Fanatics, Dapper Labs and other verticals.
