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By Kent Larsen
Madsen's Mission an Asset in NBA, But Not on the Court
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- It took the media six months once NBA
rookie Mark Madsen landed in Los Angeles to discover he had an
advantage no one had noticed. Now that advantage means the rookie
Madsen gets interviewed frequently after games. A returned missionary
who served in Spain, Madsen speaks Spanish fluently, and its LA's
Spanish-language media badly need Spanish-speaking players that they
can talk to.
The NBA isn't known for connecting with Spanish-speaking fans -- few
players are hispanic or speak Spanish, and the league hasn't marketed
the game to hispanic audiences very well. "Someone is asleep at the
job," says Roberto Gonzalez, a former college player who is trying to
popularize the game with hispanic audiences. "If the NBA was smart,
they would go after that market." But the league has done little, and
only about half the teams that call cities with large hispanic
populations home market the game to those audiences.
Madsen says part of the problem has been a lack of players, "I think
part of it has to do with the fact that there haven't been many
players that speak Spanish in the league, and there hasn't been a
huge interest on the part of the players in reaching out, from what
I've seen in the past."
But the audience is huge. Spanish-speakers now make up 1/8th of the
US population -- about 35 million people. This is giving a lot of
incentive to NBA teams to change their ways. And Madsen has noticed
that the number of Spanish-speaking players is increasing, " You look
at a guy like Eduardo Najera down in Dallas, you look at guys like
(Daniel) Santiago up in Phoenix, (Ruben) Garces (recently cut by the
Warriors) plays in Phoenix also and speaks Spanish, there's a guy on
Seattle (Ruben Wolkowyski from Argentina). So I think there's more
guys in the league that can do it."
The approaching play-offs could highlight Madsen's language ability
even more. If the Lakers make a strong play-off run like they did
last year, Madsen could end up as the only Spanish-speaking player in
the finals. Regardless of how the Lakers do, Madsen thinks its
important to have Spanish-speaking players for the Spanish-language
media to talk to, "I come off the court and people will speak to me
in Spanish. I appreciate that. I think the fans appreciate it."
Sources:
Se Habla NBA? NBA virtually ignores potential fan base
Sacramento CA Bee 25Mar01 S2
By Scott Howard-Cooper: Bee Staff Writer
Few teams make an effort to woo Spanish speakers
Se Habla NBA? Carril, Madsen make a connection with Latinos
Sacramento CA Bee 26Mar01 S2
By Scott Howard-Cooper: Bee Staff Writer
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