NBA Cup faces pressure to terminate its partnership with Emirates over UAE’s alleged role in Sudan crisis

The NBA Cup logo at a game in Detroit in November. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Multiple human rights organizations are petitioning the National Basketball Association (NBA) to drop Dubai’s government-owned Emirates airline as a sponsor of the league’s in-season tournament, the Emirates NBA Cup, due to allegations of sportswashing.

“The NBA is letting itself be used as a pawn to distract people from what the UAE is doing in the world. This partnership is not innocent – it is sportswashing and it hides the suffering of millions of Sudanese people behind a trophy,” the Speak Out On Sudan petition, which is co-sponsored by 14 organizations, says on its website.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has repeatedly denied that it is playing any role in Sudan’s civil war, particularly accusations that it provides military, financial and logistical support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been accused of crimes against humanity by a number of human rights organizations.

Sportswashing is the practice of a government or organization supporting sports or organizing sports events to enhance its reputation. The term was popularized by the Sport for Rights campaign in 2015.

After years of strategic planning, the NBA developed an in-season tournament to drum up excitement among fans ahead of the marquee Christmas fixtures and make the entirety of the marathon 82-game season more relevant to viewers. It was not sponsored for its first edition in 2023 but has subsequently been named after international airline Emirates over the last two seasons.

The UAE wants to project a modern image and invests a lot of money into curating that brand while it faces accusations of complicity in atrocities in Sudan, said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, the organization that is leading the Speak Out On Sudan petition in collaboration with Sudanese groups and leaders.

“Basketball has a century-long history in the Middle East, and our activities in the UAE – which include bringing live NBA games to fans in the region and teaching the fundamentals and values of the game to thousands of boys and girls annually – are consistent with our efforts to engage fans and aspiring players in more than 200 countries and territories around the world,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement. “We will continue to rely on U.S. State Department guidance everywhere we operate.”

Emirates airline did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

The NBA Cup final takes place at 8:30 p.m. ET Tuesday between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs in Las Vegas.

What is happening in Sudan?

For nearly three years, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF have viciously competed for territory. In January this year, the United States accused the RSF militia of committing genocide. Later, in a case at the International Court of Justice, Sudan’s acting justice minister, Muawia Osman, alleged that the RSF had “the support and complicity” of the UAE.

The UAE has been repeatedly accused of supplying weapons to the RSF. The UAE has vehemently denied the allegations, even though an expert panel appointed by the United Nations Security Council said last year they were “credible.”

Earlier this year, top members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee called for the RSF to be officially designated as a terrorist organization, and said that “foreign backers” including the UAE have “fueled and profited from the conflict.”

Khalil al-Anani, a professor of politics and visiting researcher at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, told CNN that the UAE’s primary objectives in Sudan are to “to control its natural wealth, including agriculture and gold.” At the same time, he said, the UAE “does not want to see a successful democratic transition in Sudan.”

In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson last month, the UAE president’s diplomatic adviser, Anwar Gargash, said the UAE’s interests in Sudan aren’t economic, but it does have geostrategic interests. He said the UAE wants to see Sudan as a “contributor to stability in the region” and for that to happen, the Muslim Brotherhood and “other extremist groups” must have no influence.

In response to CNN’s request for a comment, the UAE’s foreign ministry referred to a statement from its embassy in Washington, DC, saying the country condemns attacks against civilians in Sudan.

“The warring parties, including the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with allied militias and extremist-linked actors, share responsibility for atrocities committed against civilians and for blocking humanitarian access. The UAE reaffirms the importance of protecting civilians and ensuring rapid and unhindered humanitarian access throughout Sudan and stresses the need for perpetrators to be held accountable for their crimes,” the statement said.

It also noted the UAE’s humanitarian and ceasefire efforts in Sudan. UAE officials have said that the UAE is second only to the United States in aid deliveries to Sudan.

‘Jekyll and Hyde quality’ to the UAE’s role in the world

The UAE’s role in the world has a “Jekyll and Hyde quality,” Refugees International president Konyndyk said.

“They want to project a positive image – a modern, a lively country that is engaged in the arts, is engaged in culture, is engaged in sports, is sponsoring football teams and basketball tournaments, is sponsoring concerts and musical events. And they invest really heavily in curating a particular global brand,” he told CNN.

“At the same time, they are also doing and enabling and supporting and fueling horrible mass atrocities in Sudan.”

The campaign to urge the NBA to drop the UAE partnership started in 2024 when Emirates first signed on. Refugees International wrote to NBA commissioner Adam Silver along with deputy commissioner Mark Tatum expressing their human rights concern about the partnership.

Tatum, in a letter, said the NBA believes its partnership is “consistent with the NBA’s mission to inspire and connect people everywhere through the game of basketball.”

With the lack of action on this request, organizations continue to petition the NBA and are now hoping to spread awareness of their cause.

“We’re appealing to the court of public opinion,” said Mutasim Ali, a survivor of the Darfur genocide and legal advisor at the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. “The players should be concerned, the fans should be concerned.”