The U.S. men's national basketball team 's preparation for the Paris Olympics took it to the luxurious city of Abu Dhabi. It played two games in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates as part of the USA Basketball Showcase.
Apparently, the organization made tons of money by organizing the exhibition games in Abu Dhabi. Bill Simmons mentioned the rumor he heard about it while discussing the city as a potential stop for the NFL International Series.
"I heard that Team USA played two games over there and got like $40 million for the Team USA program," Simmons said on his podcast .
The Abu Dhabi money
Per "The Sports Guy," there's a reason the Middle East has been a booming destination for sports events in recent years. For instance, the UFC has already hosted its fights in Abu Dhabi 19 times and once in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the first-ever Esports World Cup was held in Riyadh this year, and the total purse amounted to more than $60 million. So, it's evident that the region is teeming with the potential to be a sports hub in the years to come.
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Team USA makes bank
USAB certainly took advantage of it if Simmons' sources are true. If even exhibition contests allowed it to rake in a lot of money, perhaps the organization and the NBA are looking to bring back their players to Abu Dhabi.
The American players also seemed to enjoy the place, more so after they won their tune-up matchups against Australia and Serbia at Etihad Arena.
They got some scare, though, as the Boomers used a strong second half to nearly post a comeback victory against the eventual Olympic gold medalist. It was after that contest when Devin Booker issued a warning to his teammates that failure could be in the offing if they don't clean things up quickly .
The Phoenix Suns star made sure that he walked the talk, as he became Team USA's unsung hero in Paris.
The Red, White, and Blue then concluded its Abu Dhabi tour on a positive note by defeating the Serbs handily in its second warmup game in the city. Unlike the Australia contest, Team USA didn't allow Serbia to stage a comeback attempt, winning by 26 behind Stephen Curry's hot hand and monster defensive efforts from Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo.
Serbia and Australia also battled it out during the Americans' day off to provide the Abu Dhabi crowd with a thrilling three-day show.
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