Is a European NBA with Real Madrid and Olympiacos on the horizon? Owners will vote this week

NBA owners are set to vote this week on a plan to launch a professional basketball league in Europe, which would help expand the sport's presence on the continent and give the NBA the opportunity to participate more directly in the growth economy.

League owners are considering a new league with between eight and ten franchises, according to a person familiar with the plans. It is a "semi-open" proposal, the person said, which means there would be up to four slots for the top teams from the EuroLeague - the continent's premier circuit, with teams like Real Madrid in Spain and Greek powerhouse Olympiacos - to compete in the NBA league the following year. Franchises in cities like London or Paris could be sold for at least $500 million each, as per the proposal.

The league would sell permanent franchises to outside investors: the NBA would hold 50% equity, and the franchise owners the other 50%, the person explained, requesting anonymity due to the private nature of the details. This structure mirrors that of the WNBA until the league acquired external capital in 2022.

As it stands, NBA executives would prefer to sell these franchises to individuals outside the league, the person stated, such as sovereign funds, private equity, wealthy individuals, or existing European basketball clubs.

NBA owners are expected to vote on the proposal during league meetings this week in New York. An NBA representative did not immediately respond to a request for comments. A representative from the Raine Group, advising the league on this matter, declined to comment.

The vote follows over a year of discussions on how the NBA could better optimize its business in Europe. The league has generated several hundred million dollars annually from Europe in recent years, but interest on the continent is growing, as is the number of talented players. The NBA believes the basketball system in Europe and the Middle East could yield annual revenues of up to $3 billion, as reported by Sportico last year.

The NBA considered closer partnerships with the EuroLeague and/or the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), including using NBA's commercial and marketing operations to assist the EuroLeague in selling sponsorships, as previously reported by Sportico. Talks of a more international competition, beyond Europe, and discussions of a new independent league happened concurrently.

The NBA's Ventures Outside the US and Canada

International opportunities have been a growing priority for the NBA over the past four decades since the league made its first deal in China in the late '80s. Despite the Hong Kong controversy in 2019, the league's efforts in China have become a multibillion-dollar business. In 2021, the league launched the Basketball Africa League (BAL), operated in partnership by the NBA and FIBA. NBA Africa attracted strategic investors, including a consortium led by Tunde Folawiyo, president of Yinka Folawiyo Group, and Helios Fairfax Partners, led by co-CEO Tope Lawani, for the NBA's first independent league outside North America.

The NBA has played 40 regular-season games outside the United States and Canada since the '90s, along with dozens more preseason games. It did not play regular-season games in Europe until 2011 when games were held in London. The league has held five regular-season games in France in recent years.

At the start of this season, there were 125 foreign-born players on NBA rosters, the highest figure in league history. Among them, 62 are Europeans, including Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Victor Wembanyama. The last six NBA MVPs have not been American; before that, there were only four in league history.

New leagues are emerging every week in almost every sport, including basketball. This year saw the inaugural season of Unrivaled, a women's 3-on-3 circuit in Florida that featured some of the biggest names from the WNBA. Bloomberg reported in January that Maverick Carter, a partner of LeBron James, was advising a group aiming to raise $5 billion for an international basketball league to rival the NBA.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, ¿Se aproxima una NBA europea con Real Madrid y Olympiacos? Los propietarios votarán esta semana