![\"General](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2256933319.jpg\")
\t\tBidding for NBA Europe franchises is due to close on Tuesday\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tTuesday 31 March 2026 5:00 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tMonday 30 March 2026 5:18 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tBidding for NBA Europe franchises is due to close on Tuesday\t<\/p>\n
The NBA will borrow from English cricket\u2019s playbook when its plans to launch a European league in 2027 take another step forward this week.<\/p>\n
Potential investors including Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund, RedBird Capital and Qatar Sports Investments have until midnight on Tuesday New York time to lodge their bids for one of the 12 permanent franchises in the 16-team competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sales process is being run by JPMorgan and the Raine Group, the latter of whom helped to raise more than \u00a3500m in The Hundred sale last summer<\/a>, and the US merchant bank is set to revisit some of the tactics that proved so successful in English cricket.<\/p>\n Once all offers have been submitted, NBA Europe\u2019s teams will be sold in order of size of market, with the London franchise expected to be the biggest and attract the highest bids \u2013 much as London Spirit and Oval Invincibles<\/a> did in The Hundred sale.<\/p>\n Any bidders who lose out on their first-choice team will be offered the chance to bid again for other franchises as part of a matchmaking service. In The Hundred sale, this tactic led to Chelsea FC co-owners Todd Boehly and Jonathan Goldstein buying into Trent Rockets<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Manchester, Milan, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Istanbul are among the other cities set to host permanent NBA Europe franchises, although many of those have clear frontrunners for the licence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Who is bidding for NBA Europe franchises?<\/p>\n RedBird, which owns football giants AC Milan, is understood to want to run the city\u2019s NBA team<\/a>, while QSI, owners of Paris Saint-Germain, has similar ambitions in the French capital. Whether either of these parties would be open to alternative locations is in doubt.<\/p>\n PIF<\/a>, which owns Newcastle United FC and is the main backer of LIV Golf, is expected to bid for the London franchise. Marshall Glickman, the US sports executive behind the aborted GBBL takeover of British pro basketball last year, is also part of a bid for the London team<\/a>.<\/p>\n Barcelona and Real Madrid already have basketball teams which are among Europe\u2019s biggest and are considered likely to take their place in NBA Europe but hurdles relating to the price and their membership of the incumbent EuroLeague<\/a> will have to be overcome.<\/p>\n The NBA and its advisors have marketed the franchises as being worth $500m to $1bn each, valuations that have been widely challenged, especially by owners of football clubs who have argued that they should be compensated for lending their IP and fanbases to the project.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Although this week\u2019s blind bids are non-binding, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said that \u201cover 100\u201d<\/a> potential investors remained in the running, having been given access to the virtual data room earlier this year.<\/p>\n The NBA has been strict on bidders leaking any information on the process. One suitor described the requisite NDA as \u201cgnarly\u201d, while it is understood that last week bidders were warned against sharing any details amid concerns that they could collude to suppress prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n