A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Sports Newsletter with Alex Sherman. This newsletter brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the world of sports business and media. Sign up to receive future editions directly to your inbox. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is launching a new project with grand ambitions to reshape professional basketball in Europe, with the NBA league at the top of the funnel. The NBA is fully committed to the NBA Europe Creation Plan, a league with 10 to 12 permanent teams and 4 to 6 open spots available annually to European FIBA member teams. FIBA is the international governing body for sports in Europe. The NBA is targeting Europe’s biggest markets, London, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul and Berlin, as potential homes for a permanent team, league officials said. Silver hopes the organization will be a combination of new teams and existing clubs. Some teams are backed by new investors, while others are derived from football clubs backed by current owners or investment funds. Real Madrid, which already has a basketball club, had “direct and high-level negotiations” to join NBA Europe, FIBA Europe president Jorge Garbajosa said last month. Other soccer powerhouse teams that do not have a basketball team, such as Paris Saint-Germain, may also follow suit. League executives have met with dozens of potential investors for the European franchise over the last month, including wealthy individuals and private equity funds. Non-binding bids for these teams are expected in late March. We’ve heard that the NBA wants a franchise fee of about $1 billion, but some investor groups have balked at that number and are pushing for a franchise fee closer to $500 million. The NBA Board of Governors could give the green light to franchise sales in some cities, or even the creation of a league, at a meeting scheduled for March. The NBA aims to start the league in October 2027. The NBA has held talks with several media companies, including Amazon and YouTube, to broadcast games globally, according to people familiar with the matter. Spokespeople for Amazon and YouTube declined to comment. A broadcast partner has not yet been determined, an NBA spokesperson said. While upstart leagues without solid audience data are likely to be limited in the amount of media rights they can earn initially, the NBA hopes that by anchoring a permanent team in Europe’s largest media market (many of which do not have a permanent team in the continent’s premier basketball league, EuroLeague), the league will become interesting to major partners. Currently, some of Europe’s best basketball teams (such as Turkey’s Fenerbahce Beko and Greece’s Olympiakos Piraeus) are not connected to the biggest media markets, reducing the continent’s ubiquitous interest in the sport and reducing its value on television. No affiliation exists between NBA Europe teams and NBA franchises. That means NBA teams can’t send players to clubs in NBA Europe like they can in the G League. Still, league executives envision NBA teams playing preseason games against clubs in NBA Europe. In the long term, NBA European teams could face NBA teams in the league’s midseason tournament, the Emirates NBA Cup, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said during All-Star Weekend. “As the league grows over time, the quality of competition will continue to get better and better, potentially leading to more crossover between NBA clubs and NBA Europa League teams,” Tatum said. Creating New Incentives Beyond the permanent teams, NBA Europe also has a “join your league” element that is familiar to European soccer fans, and the same dynamic exists in Major League Baseball. This specificity not only appeals to European fans, but is also key to the league’s ambitions. Open rotation spots are given to clubs in the FIBA Basketball League across Europe. These teams qualify for NBA Europe by winning their respective domestic leagues, followed by a tournament of champions. Another route is to win or possibly come in second place in the FIBA Basketball Champions League, which already exists today. Like the American Major League, EuroLeague is a closed league. Only about 10% of all European club teams have the opportunity to play in this organization. The NBA is betting that by opening up NBA Europe, it can improve player development, marketing and fan interest across Europe, where basketball is the second most popular sport after soccer, and stimulate the entire European infrastructure. According to NBA data, more than 270 million Europeans are basketball fans. Still, basketball accounts for less than 1% of Europe’s $45 billion sports media and sponsorship market, according to NBA data. The NBA hopes that once fans know they have a chance to qualify for NBA Europe, they will become more interested in their local EuroLeague teams, perhaps by watching more games on TV. “What we want to do is make European basketball as good as it can be, as strong as it can be, both from a product, a competitive standpoint and a commercial standpoint,” Tatum said. “We want this to be beneficial for the entire ecosystem, the players, the fans, the teams. That’s our main objective here.” Silver knows investors are betting on getting into the ground floor of sports teams. Many wealthy individuals, including current and recently retired players, want to be part of an ownership group and get a price from the NBA. Building a successful league in Europe would not only give them a chance to get into a permanent team, but it could be the updraft that lifts all European basketball ships. Still, NBA Europe would provide ample competition for the current EuroLeague. This dynamic can easily cause tension for team owners, players, executives, and fans. Coincidentally, EuroLeague has a new CEO in Chas Bueno, a former NBA executive. Bueno started just a few weeks ago. NBA executives have expressed hope that EuroLeague and NBA Europe could become partners, including the possibility of EuroLeague taking an investment in NBA Europe, a stock exchange between the two leagues, or a possible merger, according to people familiar with the matter. Tatum said during All-Star Weekend that he expects Bueno to serve as “a bridge between us, FIBA and the EuroLeague clubs” as the NBA looks to conquer new territory.
