The USA scores in the Old Continent. With the launch scheduled for 2027, NBA Europe will export a new economic structure and a championship that integrates the two basketball traditions. “The important thing is that the Americans don’t cannibalize our vision of basketball,” clarifies Andrea Bargnani, former player of the US championship. Times are tight: the league will start in less than two years. Confirmation also came from the president of the Italian Basketball Federation, Gianni Petrucci, who confirmed what was anticipated by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
The structure of the superalloy: how it works
NBA Europe will include 16 teams: 12 will be entitled to a multi-year license which will also allow them to play subsequent editions. The other four will access the new league based on the sporting results obtained in their respective national championships. The goal? Place the closed American model, with fixed teams, alongside the European meritocratic one, to create a global basketball ecosystem under the NBA brand, including the regular season, playoffs and potential interactions with the United States league.
Tight deadlines and logistical problems
There are still many doubts about the project, however: from the need for investments to the lack of adequate infrastructure, especially in Italy. But commissioner Silver is sure: “Towards the end of January we will be in a position to enter into serious and concrete negotiations with our partners”. The launch date is 2027, practically tomorrow. But the NBA does not seem to be worried by the problem: “They want to bring out the unexpressed value of European basketball”, explains Marco Bellinazzo, sports finance expert and journalist for Sole24Ore.
The unexpressed potential of European basketball: it is worth 3 billion a year
The NBA is trying to export its business model to Europe too. “Here the Euroleague, the major competition at continental level, has not managed to fully intercept the potential of basketball, at least from an economic point of view”, explains Bellinazzo again. “According to NBA analyses, the potential value of the European basketball market is 3 billion dollars a year,” says Flavio Tranquillo, Sky Sports reporter and great expert on American basketball. An ambitious and complex mission which – according to Sky – “requires investment and know-how”. Precisely what Europe needs, where clubs, despite solid fan bases, struggle and “are forced to inject capital into the league every year”, as Bellinazzo recalls.
A new business model: the NBA looks to the world of football
The Euroleague teams are in the red and the NBA wants solid partners, ready to spend a lot to meet American standards. According to initial estimates from JP Morgan, the capital needed to start a franchise from scratch – a professional sports club with the right to compete in the new championship – is between 500 million and one billion dollars. “I don’t know how reliable these figures are – explains Bellinazzo – but we will need to understand the extent of the industrial project, which no one currently knows”. What is certain is that the NBA has already made contact with some players in Italy too. Deputy commissioner Mark Tatum reassured that “there are no favourites”, but – according to statements in recent months and the rumors circulating in the FIP – the league would have consulted the American football properties that manage Milan, Inter and Roma.
The unknown of the Capital
The Friedkins, owners of Roma, have great financial resources, but the road to having a franchise in the capital seems tortuous. Virtus went bankrupt towards the end of 2020 and since then Rome has been orphaned of a team. We will therefore have to start from scratch, unless an existing club decides to move to the city, perhaps because it is excluded from the super league. But Rome isn’t just missing a franchise. Despite its capacity, PalaEur does not meet NBA standards and would need adaptation work.
The modernization of the historic sports palace is a viable option according to Andrea Bargnani, who recalls the case of the Roma stadium that was never built. “There is nothing that cannot be done, the funds are there, we just need to work together”, underlines the Italian. On this point, the latest statements from Tatum are also reassuring as, speaking to the Gazzetta dello Sport, he implied that there will be “a period of adaptation”, during which the teams will play in the existing arenas. “But we certainly need adequate structures in the future,” remarks the NBA number two.
Olimpia Milano risks exclusion from the project
While Rome is behind on everything, in Milan there is already an established team that has been competing in the Euroleague for years: the Armani family’s Olimpia Milano. A credible actor, who however was not nominated by the NBA, at least until a few days ago, when Tatum declared that he “had made contact with Ettore Messina”, a former coach, now in the red and white management. Perhaps the NBA prefers a partner like Milan, in American hands and certainly more financially solid, or perhaps the time of the owner-patron is “over”, as Tranquillo believes. The fact remains that the US championship “has made contact with various groups”, so Milan could also be ready to join the league as early as 2027.
The repercussions on European basketball culture: tradition at risk?
In addition to the structural problems, there is another aspect that worries players, clubs and fans. The fear is that the NBA, by exporting its business model, will distort European basketball culture. Bargnani is sure that the Americans “will not cannibalize European basketball”, but rather will work closely with Fiba, allowing the federation to play the role of “guarantor of the sporting culture” of the Old Continent. It only remains to be seen what will happen to the Euroleague, which risks being emptied of its best clubs as early as 2027. Both Bargnani and Bellinazzo are skeptical about the future coexistence between the European Fiba competition and the American project. We will have to see if the NBA management will be able to implement a transition that “respects the tradition of European basketball”.
