![\"go-deeper\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2194929406.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGO DEEPER<\/p>\n
Where the NBA stands on expanding its footprint in Europe<\/p>\n
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Aivazoglou said the NBA hired two banks \u2014 JP Morgan Case, and the Raine Group \u2014 to help identify potential investors. He said those conversations have largely been with sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms, as well as with some wealthy families. He said an announcement on European league investors is expected soon. Aivazoglou believes Europe has a $50 billion market for sports, and basketball leagues currently make \u201cless than 0.5 percent of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the NBA\u2019s plans and its timeline mean for the survival of the EuroLeague remains to be seen. Of the 20 teams currently playing in EuroLeague, eight play in cities on the NBA\u2019s list, which means some historic franchises could be left out of NBA Europe, though they could, if they wanted to, play their way in through FIBA or through their domestic league.<\/p>\n
Though there were no confirmations yet on who will own the teams, existing European basketball powerhouses \u2014 or otherwise established programs \u2014 in Madrid (Real Madrid), Barcelona (Barca), Berlin (Alba), Munich (Bayern) and Lyon (ASVEL Basket, where former San Antonio superstar Tony Parker is team president) are all expected to the NBA\u2019s league, two European basketball sources said.<\/p>\n
Of those clubs, Real Madrid, Barca Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and ASVEL are currently in the EuroLeague. Alba Berlin was a EuroLeague team last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn as in \u2018designated\u2019 for it,\u201d one official from an existing EuroLeague team told The Athletic. \u201cIt\u2019s still too early to be in as in \u2018it\u2019s all set\u2019 for any team.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Paris, a EuroLeague team exists, run by former NBA team executive David Kahn, but the NBA is seeking a partnership with Qatari authorities who own soccer giant Paris Saint-Germain, according to a source close to PSG. Paris Basketball plays in the French national league and the EuroLeague, and has home games at both of the city\u2019s large basketball arenas.<\/p>\n
The NBA has a similar decision to make in Milan, where a basketball team exists, and two deep-pocketed soccer clubs that could be interested in starting a basketball program for Silver\u2019s venture.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will have teams in three categories,\u201d Aivazoglou said. \u201cFirst, we\u2019re talking with some existing basketball teams. Second, we\u2019re talking with football teams that have a strong brand, and therefore a large fan base, but don\u2019t have a basketball team: many of the most interesting conversations we\u2019re having in this country and in this city are of this nature. And there are situations, in very limited cases, where we\u2019ll start from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n
For instance, there is currently no top-level pro team playing in Rome.<\/p>\n
In the United Kingdom, Manchester City\u2019s multi-billion-dollar soccer franchise is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Abu Dhabi United Group out of the United Arab Emirates. The chairman of Manchester City is another Emirate, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, whose brother, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, runs the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.<\/p>\n
The Al Mubarak family has expressed interest in NBA ownership, though sovereign wealth funds currently cannot own more than 20 percent of any NBA franchise. The London Lions nearly folded in 2024 but the franchise was rescued by Lithuanian tech company Tessonet.<\/p>\n
There are currently two teams from Istanbul, and two in or near Athens, playing in the EuroLeague.<\/p>\n
The NBA European league, like the EuroLeague, would be an abbreviated competition compared to what Americans are used to in the NBA. Instead of a single, 82-game schedule, European teams play in their own domestic leagues, and depending on their success rate and preferences, can also play in the EuroLeague, or FIBA\u2019s Champions League, or another, lower-level international league (much like European football).<\/p>\n
The NBA is hosting two regular-season games in two of its targeted European cities in January \u2014 featuring the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies \u2014 in Berlin and London. FIBA, the international governing body for basketball, is the NBA\u2019s partner on Silver\u2019s new league.<\/p>\n
Silver has also suggested, on multiple occasions, he views his European league as a form of expansion, which could take the place of, or delay, expansion from the current 30-team structure in the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA is formally targeting an October 2027 launch date for its new European League and its list…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,12056,25711],"class_list":{"0":"post-556034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115510932245096643","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}