- The NBA Rwanda deal under ‘Visit Rwanda’ campaign is one of the most controversial happenings in global sports
- It raises questions about how the league balances its progressive image at home with its business ambitions abroad
- Kagame enjoys a love-hate relationship
The NBA Rwanda deal under ‘Visit Rwanda’ campaign is one of the most controversial happenings in global sports.
It raises questions about how the league balances its progressive image at home with its business ambitions abroad.
What began in 2018 as a goodwill tour by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver turned into a partnership with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.
Kagame enjoys a love-hate relationship. He is hailed for ending the Rwandan genocide but condemned for years of political repression and human rights abuses.
How Did President Kagame Start NBA Rwanda Deal with Visit Rwanda Campaign?
In the summer of 2018, Silver visited Kigali, where he shot hoops with Kagame inside Petit Stade, a modest arena that barely resembled an NBA venue.
Kagame expressed his dream of hosting an NBA game one day. Standing beside Silver were NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum and former Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, a close friend of Kagame.
The league’s leaders explained that Rwanda needed more than a refurbished gym. If Kagame wanted to host professional basketball, he would need a world-class facility.
One with luxury suites, strong Wi-Fi, modern locker rooms, and surrounding real estate to make it financially sustainable.
Kagame, accustomed to decisive action, quickly approved a new vision. Within a year, Rwanda unveiled a $104 million arena, central to launching the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
How was Visit Rwanda Campaign Birthed?
The NBA Rwanda Deal was presented as a way to inspire young Africans and create opportunities through basketball. Yet critics argue it also allowed Kagame to polish his image internationally while diverting attention from domestic repression.
The US State Department and human rights groups have long accused Kagame’s government of jailing opponents, silencing critics, and even supporting armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
ESPN’s year-long investigation into the partnership revealed concerns that the NBA, in chasing global expansion, was willing to overlook abuses it would never tolerate within the United States.
Elizabeth Shackelford, a former U.S. diplomat, bluntly described Kagame as a “Putin-style dictator.” She wondered why the NBA would align itself with Kagame whose human rights violation record speak so much about him.
From the NBA’s perspective, Africa is a growth market with enormous potential. The BAL, supported by Rwanda’s investment, has become a showcase league, and NBA Africa was valued at nearly $1 billion in 2021.
Rwanda’s state-backed support gave the league both financial backing and a physical home base.
Mark Tatum insists the NBA’s motives are about community impact. He says that discussions with Kagame are about “improving the lives of Rwandan people” through basketball.
Pro-Visit Rwanda argue that Rwanda’s investment has helped bring infrastructure, jobs, and global attention to African basketball.
Still, the reality is that the NBA Rwanda deal offered Kagame something invaluable. International credibility and branding power that softens his government’s authoritarian reputation.
Now, Rwanda’s sports sponsorships are perfect strategy to market its sports and tourism giving through the EPL, and the NBA.
Already, Visit Rwanda has a nod Arsenal and NBA teams the LA Clippers and Los Angeles Rams.
NBA Criticism?
The NBA prides itself on social justice leadership at home, with players and executives often speaking out on issues of race, equality, and civil rights.
However, that reputation is now challenged by its silence on Rwanda’s human rights violation and the signing of NBA Rwanda deal.
By choosing to work with Kagame, the league risks being seen as complicit in sportswashing, helping an authoritarian government launder its reputation through high-profile partnerships.
NBA’s claim as a social justice defender is now on trial following its deal with Kagame to market Visit Rwanda.
