Trần Chu Sa, CEO of the VBA, speaks at the VBA 3x3 opening ceremony. Photo courtesy of VBA

After seven years of establishment and development, the Vietnam Basketball Association (VBA) has become the leading professional basketball league in the country. The fact that VBA has reached the top position it is today is thanks to the efforts of many different people and departments. Việt Nam News speaks to Trần Chu Sa, CEO of the VBA, about the association's development.

Inner sanctum: Can you share with us the development of the VBA in recent years?

I have had the opportunity to work for the VBA since 2019, and for me the development of the VBA over the years has been reflected in Vietnamese basketball fans. The love of the fans for basketball has increased year by year and most notably when the regular season returned after the COVID-19 period.

Last season was also the most watched season with matches in the regular season to always be sold out. This is a positive sign that the VBA is on the right track to achieve certain results to build this sports economic model.

Inner sanctum: So what have been the difficulties with VBA development so far?

Basketball is a relatively new sport to Việt Nam and is only really popular in big cities, so expanding the market is quite difficult.

When I took charge of the VBA in 2019, the popularity of the VBA was almost saturated, so since then, we have always focused our resources on creating league promotion activities to bring new experiences to the fans.

Since then, the VBA has been constantly changing, from adding a new team, the Nha Trang Dolphins, to allowing clubs to have two foreign players to improve the quality of the league.

Inner sanctum: It is known that the VBA in the early years learned from the NBA's basketball model, and after many years of development, what is the identity of the VBA?

In the first years, the VBA adopted almost exactly the prototype of the American NBA model. After a period of operation, we have also changed some characteristics to be suitable for Vietnamese fans and the size of the league.

The development conditions as well as the government's policies to support the development of this sport in Việt Nam are also different. That's why we have constantly changed in recent years to perfect the professional basketball league model.

Therefore, it can be said that flexible improvisation according to actual conditions is a special feature of the VBA in recent years.

Each year, we always try to bring in some features that are different from the previous season, in order to attract more fans.

Inner sanctum: What did the VBA do to make it popular?

We have organized events and tournaments like the 3x3 format on pedestrian streets in Hà Nội, HCM City and some public places in other cities to bring this sport closer to more people.

Event like VBA 3x3 format is one of great way that the league make it to bring the basketball game to the fan across the country. Photo courtesy of VBA

According to our records, thanks to activities like this, there is an annual growth of 20 to 30 per cent. That's why we always try to bring basketball to more fans.

The owners of the clubs in the VBA are also the co-owners of the league. This makes the decisions of the VBA and the clubs all towards one goal to develop the Vietnamese basketball scene.

Inner sanctum: So at the present time, have sponsors had a different view of the VBA after years of development?

At the present time, the VBA has gained more attention from sponsors. However, big brands are still evaluating the effectiveness of communication activities through advertising agencies, so the perception of brands towards sports models, not only the VBA, is still not right.

The VBA is still trying to work with partners and sponsors to find ways to help sponsors achieve their goals, and ensure the effectiveness of the league's communication.

Inner sanctum: What does the VBA and its teams do to ensure the quality of the young local players of the teams in order to increase the competition among the teams?

The VBA and its teams always closely follow the training of young players in order to build a quality training system for the league.

Also, the scouts of the teams always closely follow the activities of the private youth player training centres in order to have more recruitment options suitable for each team.

Teams also have youth training programmes or are collaborating with private youth training centres or basketball federations from other localities to perfect their youth training systems.

Inner sanctum: What is the goal of the VBA this season?

At the current stage, we have not set big goals because this year's economic situation is still in the process of recovering from the COVID pandemic, so we will focus on completing what we already have.

We will also contact sponsors to build a more complete sports economic model, bring in revenue for clubs from sponsorships, tickets and merchandise and improve the quality of the tournament.

In addition, this year we will push media and promotion activities of the league, so that more people can experience the love of this game. That's our goal this year. VNS