A small traveling team quietly proved that sport could be packaged, branded, and sold far beyond the court.
On January 7, 1927, Abe Saperstein and a group of young Black athletes played their first game under the name Harlem Globetrotters, blending athletic skill with showmanship to attract paying audiences. What began as a barnstorming experiment grew into a global enterprise, turning basketball into entertainment, exporting American culture worldwide, and demonstrating how performance, personality, and persistence could overcome barriers and build a lasting business.
From bsnsHistory, the daily podcast about the moments when business quietly reshaped the world.
