First it was American football coming to the big smoke, and now it looks like we might get some basketball action as well.
It's all down to the Olympics of course (isn't everything these days), with the Times reporting today that the National Basketball Association is eyeing up our 2012 facilities for a future European tour.
Last week the NBA announced it was going to bring four of its teams to five European countries next October "for training camps and games against local opposition", but London failed to make the list thanks to a lack of decent facilities (and if you've ever seen the sports stadiums they have in the US you'll understand, even their school gyms make many of our premiership football grounds look crappy).
However, the Times quotes NBA commissioner David Stern as saying (in that overly-formal way that some Americans have, which makes everything sound like a military invasion):
We are very aware of the 2012 Olympics and that the home team country gets a bye into the programme. We see there is a huge opportunity, especially with the construction that is ongoing. We’re coming, we just don’t know exactly when and what our mode of operation is going to be.
Mode of operation?
If you want to get in the mood on the offchance the NBA pays us a visit then you'll probably want to start by going to see the London Towers. Onionbagblog has regular match reports.
