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Nets, Raptors to Play Europe's First Regular-Season NBA Games
The New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors will play in London in March, the National Basketball Association’s first regular-season games in Europe.
The Atlantic Division teams will meet March 4 and 5 at the O2 arena, the NBA said in a news release.
The games fulfill the NBA’s commitment to have regular- season action in London before the city hosts the 2012 Olympics, Commissioner David Stern said in a statement.
The NBA has sold out preseason games in London each year since 2007, the league said. The defending-champion Los Angeles Lakers will meet the Minnesota Timberwolves Oct. 4 at the O2.
The Nets, who were bought by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in May, went a league-worst 12-70 last season. The Raptors were 40-42, finishing 10 games behind the Boston Celtics in the division.
The NBA was the first U.S. professional sports league to hold regular-season games outside North America, with the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz opening the 1990-91 season in Japan. The league has held 13 regular-season contests in either Japan or Mexico since 1990.
The National Football League’s Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers will play on Oct. 31 at London’s Wembley Stadium. The stadium has hosted three NFL games since 2007.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net.
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