Strategy & Operations

NBPA Grassroots basketball

The Greatest Players in the World Should Have A Voice Wherever Basketball is Played

Challenge

Developing a breakthrough grassroots basketball strategy for the National Basketball Players Association

Background

The National Basketball Players Association is the union representing all 450 NBA players. They hired an experienced and talented team to lead their experiential and grassroots department who brought me in to help them create a long-term strategy that:

• Fully integrated with other NBPA initiatives and had full stakeholder buy-in

• Stood out in a crowded grassroots basketball marketplace

• Achieved NBPA core objectives  – elevate members, drive revenue, extend brand, generate community impact

For several years, I have worked with NBPA to develop, implement, innovate and optimize their grassroots programming.

Solution

First, I worked with the Grassroots team to formulate and articulate departmental principles that would guide strategy and operations. We focused on these four principles:

• Collaborative & Responsive – With participants, members, internal stakeholders

• Value Additive – Focus on grassroots gaps, underserved communities & families

• Evidence Based – Strategy and tactics are always grounded in research

• Data-Driven Accountability - Measure everything and optimize based on results

We began the exploratory work to put these principles in action by conducting a comprehensive research project with two primary areas of focus – finding the right niche for NBPA grassroots, and stakeholder buy-in.

STEP ONE: Understanding the Grassroots Landscape to Determine Positioning

The first component of this was general grassroots background research, exploring in detail NBPA member-specific activities such as player-run camps and clinics and youth basketball teams. 

Next, I designed, moderated and led interviews and focus groups with the NBPA grassroots team involving over 100 of the premier grassroots stakeholders from around the country. This included NBA Players, retired players, leadership at top grassroots organizations, coaches, sneaker brands, and both elite and recreational players & parents. 

From this, we began to map out the white space in the field and the most promising options and opportunities for the NBPA to make an impact in a crowded grassroots landscape.

STEP TWO: Internal NBPA Stakeholder Knowledge Gathering and Buy-In

We recognized from the outset that regardless of the rigor of our research methodology and the power of the insights from our interviews and focus groups, any recommendations we made would go over like a lead balloon without the active engagement of NBPA senior staff.

I developed a process to maximize buy-in and integration across the organization. We arranged 1:1 interviews with all key senior NBPA staff (starting with the President) and with other internal stakeholders to get their thoughts and ideas for grassroots, to find opportunities for integration, and to share our learnings and initial concepts.

Additionally, we conducted a quantitative survey with these internal stakeholders to assess priorities, desired outcomes, and preferred directions. 

Following this research, we formulated recommendations which we presented along with our findings. NBPA leadership approved the recommendations which have served as a blueprint for the overall grassroots strategy.

Results

The grassroots team has subsequently rolled out several key initiatives including a series of highly successful camps and clinics featuring NBPA members, scholarships, and a customized lifeskills development component.

I have also implemented an evaluation framework utilized with all programming. Camp and clinic attendees complete questionnaires at the end of each day that we instantly process and use to make changes before the next day’s activities. Parents also fill out surveys after the completion of camp that include their feedback and input into future activities. We use these responses to guide programming and to present results to senior leadership.

And, as originally envisioned, these programs are generating incremental revenue for NBPA members (players are a core component of all grassroots programs/events), and for the NBPA, by attracting new sponsors, and new proceeds from current licensing partners.