The National Basketball Association (NBA) is contemplating a significant leap across the Atlantic as it explores the possibility of launching a standalone European league. This new venture would be separate from the existing Euroleague, which currently leads as Europe's top basketball league with its 18 teams. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has stated that the Euroleague has not fully tapped into its potential for monetary growth and expansion, leaving room for the NBA to explore opportunities within the European market.
For the past year, the NBA has been investigating this concept in depth. Silver believes that the European market, particularly its young consumers, is ripe for an elevated experience in the sport. The league has reached out to major European soccer clubs to discuss the potential for creating basketball teams to join this prospective league. This week, most of the NBA's top executives have convened in Paris to engage with potential teams, media partners, and sponsors, fueling speculation about the league's future moves.
Additionally, discussions are underway about hosting NBA regular-season games in new locations such as Manchester, U.K., and Berlin. The NBA has already established a presence in Europe by holding regular-season games in Paris over the past three years and previously in London before the pandemic. Despite these promising plans, a concern for team owners remains that other leagues operated by the NBA have not consistently yielded profits.
Adam Silver underscored the NBA's expertise in managing multiple leagues, including the WNBA, Basketball Africa League, G League, and a 2K video league. He remarked:
"And what we do at the NBA is we run leagues. We, of course, run the WNBA, we have the [Basketball Africa League], we have the G League, we have a 2K video league. So we operate five different leagues and we think it's an expertise we have. And so we are looking very closely to see if there's an opportunity to professionalize the game to another level here to create a larger commercial opportunity."
The NBA's strategy involves reaching out to potential investors and team owners to gauge interest in this European venture. Last fall, Silver presented this idea to NBA team owners in New York, highlighting the potential commercial benefits of a European expansion. The international governing body FIBA's secretary general also made a presentation to owners about partnering with the NBA for this expansion.
Despite the promising outlook, Silver acknowledged that European basketball has yet to keep pace with the sport's global growth. He noted:
"While Europe continues to develop some of the very best players in the world — many of our most recent MVPs, of course, are European — we think that the commercial opportunity has not kept pace with the growth of the game."
The upcoming decision on whether to proceed with launching a European league could be made following a planned March owners' meeting. Silver indicated that an update would be provided during this meeting:
"We have an NBA board meeting in late March, we'll be giving an update to our bosses, in essence."
While some stakeholders may express concerns about competition with existing organizations like the Euroleague, Silver emphasized that the initiative is not intended to be antagonistic:
"The tenor of the meetings have been very positive. It's not anti-anybody or anti any other organization."
Leave a Reply