AUSTIN AND NEW YORK – The National Basketball Association (NBA), FloSports, and ELEVEN SPORTS today announced that seven Jr. NBA World Championship U.S. Regional competitions will be shown live and on-demand on FloHoops.com, with select games also airing live on ELEVEN SPORTS.

The competitions will bring together the top 13- to 14-year-old boys and girls teams to compete in their respective regions. The winning teams will then advance to the Jr. NBA World Championship, a first-of-its kind global youth basketball tournament taking place Aug. 7-12, 2018 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.

FloHoops will live-stream from six courts during each three-day event, totaling more than 800 regional games. Fans can access live and on-demand coverage of the U.S. Regional competitions through FloHoops.com as well as the FloSports’ iOS, Roku, and Apple TV 4 apps, and one of the six courts will also be broadcast on the ELEVEN SPORTS’ television network.

The Jr. NBA World Championship U.S. Regional competition schedule is as follows:

The regional boys and girls team winners will receive all-expenses-paid trips to compete at the Jr. NBA World Championship.  The culminating event will be separated into U.S. and international brackets that feature round-robin competition followed by single-elimination boys and girls tournaments.  The winners of the U.S. and international brackets will go on to play in the championship games on Aug. 12.

All Jr. NBA World Championship competitions will align with the NBA and USA Basketball Youth Guidelines, which promote player health and wellness and age-appropriate rules and standards.  Participants in both the regional competitions and the World Championship event will also receive life skills education off the court, often alongside current and former NBA and WNBA players.

The Jr. NBA World Championship adds to FloHoops’ year-round calendar of top college and prep basketball, which currently includes exclusive live coverage of the 2018 boys and girls Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) and the upcoming AAU Boys National Championships and Super Showcases.  This past season, FloHoops aired top high school tournaments and showcases, such as the Hoophall Classic, City of Palms Classic, and Les Schwab Invitational, as well as Big Ten basketball and the Paradise Jam and Junkanoo Jam preseason college events.  Recently, FloHoops inked a multiyear deal with EuroLeague Basketball to be the EuroCup’s official distribution partner in North America.

ELEVEN’S presentation of the Jr. NBA World Championship follows its recent coverage of 2017-18 NBA G League regular-season.  It also holds live NBA rights in Belgium, Luxembourg, Singapore and Taiwan.

The Jr. NBA World Championship regional games will be shown live in four of ELEVEN’S markets – the U.S., Belgium, Luxembourg, and Singapore.  Showcasing the Jr. NBA World Championships aligns with ELEVEN’S strategy to reach dedicated fans, bringing them closer to the action and creating a go-to destination, where a community of passionate fans can access a range of content that is tailor-made for them.  In the U.S., ELEVEN SPORTS is available on DIRECTV channel 623, Verizon Fios channel 597 and AT&T U-verse channel 1665. The games will also be streaming on ELEVEN’s new digital channel ELEVEN NEXT on twitch.tv. In addition, ELEVEN can be found on various other cable and OTT providers.

Fans can access live and on-demand coverage of the Jr. NBA World Championship by visiting FloHoops.com and becoming a monthly or annual PRO subscriber.  Either subscription provides access to premium content across the entire FloSports network.  Watch the games on your big screen by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Roku, or Apple TV 4.

For more information, visit www.FloSports.tv.  More information about the Jr. NBA World Championship can be found at www.jrnba.com/worldchampionship. More information about ELEVEN SPORTS can be found at http://elevensportsusa.com.

Executive Quotes:

FloSports SVP Global Rights Acquisition & Strategy Adam Fenn
“The Jr. NBA World Championship is an ambitious event with global appeal, and we’re excited to provide coverage of the inaugural event.  For basketball fans looking for the next generation of stars, there’s no better place to tune in this summer than FloHoops.com.”

NBA President, Social Responsibility & Player Programs Kathy Behrens
“FloSports and ELEVEN SPORTS will tip off an exciting summer of Jr. NBA World Championship coverage in the U.S.  We are thrilled to bring the oncourt competition to our fans, as elite boys and girls teams from across the country showcase the values of the game while competing for the opportunity to represent their region in our global event.”

ELEVEN SPORTS US SVP Managing Director, Anthony Bailey
“Coming off our NBA G League deal, we are thrilled to distribute these inaugural games.  With FloSports, this unique collaboration connects all of us, over any device, to an enormous number of young athletes whose stories will inspire the next generation of sports fans.  This is the best youth basketball in the world.  ELEVEN SPORTS’ mission is to serve dedicated fans in innovative and interactive ways.  Our collaboration with FloSports and the NBA is instrumental to our mission and brings us one step closer to our vision.”

About FloSports
FloSports, the innovator in live digital sports and original content, partners with event rights holders and governing bodies to unlock a world of sports coverage that true fans have been waiting for. Through live streaming of premier events, original video programming, and weekly studio shows, FloSports is growing the sports, the events, the athletes, and the fans. Current verticals under the FloSports header include Basketball, MMA, Football, Wrestling, Track, Gymnastics, and more.

About ELEVEN SPORTS
ELEVEN SPORTS is an award-winning global sports provider dedicated to delivering world-class international and domestic sports and lifestyle entertainment. In just over two years, ELEVEN has become a young, dynamic brand that resonates globally as well as locally, engaging fans on-air and online, in local languages and a fresh tone of voice. In the United States, ELEVEN SPORTS is carried on DIRECTV, Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse and NCTC, and OTT services Twitch, Fubo, Sony Vue, and iGol.

ELEVEN SPORTS delivers more than 25,000 LIVE hours of top class sporting action to over 17 million paying customers worldwide in Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States. Live coverage of premium sports events is supplemented with news, comprehensive analysis, digital content and local programming. ELEVEN’s services are 24/7, multi-screen, full HD and locally produced to the highest international production standards.

About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around four professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, the NBA G League and the NBA 2K League.  The NBA has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 50 languages, and merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on six continents.  NBA rosters at the start of the 2017-18 season featured 108 international players from a record 42 countries and territories.  NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA App and NBA League Pass.  The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with 1.5 billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.

About the Jr. NBA
The Jr. NBA presented by Under Armour is the league’s youth basketball participation program that provides a fun environment for kids to learn the fundamentals and values of the game. The Jr. NBA is focused on helping grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents, and offers a free curriculum covering all levels of the game that includes 48 practice plans and more than 250 instructional videos featuring NBA and WNBA players. The Jr. NBA World Championship, a first-of-its kind global youth basketball tournament for elite 13- to 14-year-old boys and girls teams from around the world, will take place in August 2018.

In partnership with USA Basketball, the NBA developed two sets of youth basketball guidelines which promote player health and wellness and age-appropriate rules and standards. Through a network of affiliated youth basketball organizations and programs such as the Jr. NBA Skills Challenge presented by Verizon and 3v3 Leagues presented by Shock Doctor, the Jr. NBA program has reached more than five million youth ages 6-14 in the U.S. and Canada since launching its expanded efforts in October 2015. The Jr. NBA partnership network is comprised of youth basketball programs of all NBA, WNBA and NBA G League teams as well as elementary and middle schools, military bases and long standing community partners. For more information and to register for the Jr. NBA, visit www.JrNBA.com or download the Jr. NBA app.