When the NBA arrives in Europe, it is already a small event, lasting one or two regular season matches. So, when she embarks on a pharaonic project to bring together the elite of the Old Continent, there is reason to turn some eyes away. The “NBA Europe” was announced, it is now being shaped. The North American championship hopes to attract the loudest names and is casting its net wide in this direction. A question of sporting legitimacy, obviously, but also of prestige, which justifies knocking on the doors of clubs which had until now never tried their luck in the orange ball. But even for long-established strongholds, this project which should come to fruition for the 2027-2028 season is as much a hope as a possible problem node.
The NBA took advantage of its “relocation” to Berlin then London on January 15 and 18 during two meetings between Orlando and Memphis to carry out meetings, presentations and all possible maneuvers to move its baby forward at a forced march. The hope was to be able to have enough certainty to announce the first of the 12 participants in this NBA Europe the following week. However, both the league and potential people interested in joining it face some significant barriers.
Real Madrid, ideal showcase
For some, the marriage is formalized, or almost. ALBA Berlin wants to be the permanent franchise desired by the NBA in the German capital, and has already won the praise of the league’s big boss, Adam Silver. ASVEL also seems promising, while its president Tony Parker played the unofficial sales representative of the project with the Euroleague, the current flagship competition in Europe with which a rapprochement had once been considered. The Villeurbanne and Lyon club has therefore not extended its commitment to the Euroleague for next season according to the specialist media Eurohoops. And Real Madrid seems set to do the same.
Real Madrid-ASVEL
Credit: Getty Images
The Madrid club is seen as an essential pawn, a showcase of the NBA’s ambitions in Europe. “
We know that Real have shown interest, and the NBA is in direct and high-level contact with the club“, confirmed
on COPE radio Jorge Garbajosa, president of the European branch of FIBA, the international basketball federation partner of NBA Europe, last Thursday. Even if it means taking the risk of not being authorized to play in the Euroleague next season while waiting for the start of NBA Europe. Or to offend his own supporters. “
Our priority in Europe is to play against historic teams with a strong basketball tradition, they said in a press release. This is not what NBA Europe currently offers. Going into this competition alone would be a mistake.“
Betraying your DNA to be tempted?
However, the process seems to be well underway. But it will have to require some rearrangements at the highest levels of Casa Blanca. Constraints which push the eternal rival, FC Barcelona, to be much more cautious about its intentions. Both Real and Barça enjoy a specific privilege in Spain, a commercial status as a non-profit organization, which allows the clubs concerned – this is also the case for Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao – to belong to its members and not to external investors. A model at odds with the commercial model of the NBA. The parade to comply with it, transforming Barça into an SAD or Anonymous Sports Society, would betray the “popular” DNA of the Blaugrana to which it has always been fiercely attached, and would involve a vote of the members themselves.
Because if the NBA Europe is the promise of the “NBA” label, it also comes with its almost “Trumpesque” air of entry fee. According to Mundo Deportivo, clubs wishing to join this new championship are asked for a check of between 500 million and one billion dollars (between 422 and 845 million euros). This prohibitive price is seen by the NBA as an assurance of immediately sharing generous financial shares. “Funds could potentially come, at least initially, from league clubsexplained Adam Silver during a press conference on January 15. Similar to the launch of any startup, the participants would also be the investors. And over time, we would hope for a return on investment.“
This high amount, no European basketball club has the means or the funds. This means the participation of external stakeholders ready to put their hands in the portfolio. In the case of FC Barcelona, this would mean creating a subsidiary that would manage the commercial rights not only of its basketball section, but of the entire sports club. And thus to give a form of power to a patron who could then have a say in the sporting management of everything concerning the Culés. Hard to think for a club which has already had to sell father and mother (49% of its audiovisual production company, 10% of its television rights for the next twenty-five years, 49.9% of the company responsible for merchandising, the operation of the Camp Nou VIP seats for at least 15 years, etc.) in recent years to cover its abysmal debts.
Manchester City and Manchester United close the door, AC Milan opens it
If the interest between Barça and NBA Europe is mutual, the enthusiasm comes much more from across the Atlantic. Barcelona will thus pass its turn, at least for the moment, and extend its license as a “permanent club” in the Euroleague for ten years. A small failure for the NBA which assures that it is committed to “respect the tradition of European basketball” et “find the combination of new and old” proclaimed Adam Silver.
This will involve new players with the most robust means of sport in Europe. For its Manchester-based franchise, the league surveyed Manchester City and Manchester United, but was refused according to the BBC. Paris Saint-Germain is hoped for, with its Qatari funds and American investors including Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant. “
They play at the highest level of competition (football) and they have the know-how to operate a basketball club at the highest level, if that interests them.” Silver explained.
to the Team. “
Paris is a market in which we absolutely want to be, insisted his right-hand man Mark Tatum. There is their ability to create a brand, a culture, their association with the equipment manufacturer Jordan (of Michael Jordan), which is linked to basketball.“
PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi (right) and Jordan Brand president Larry Miller (left) on September 13, 2018
Credit: Getty Images
It remains to be seen what advantages PSG and the others will gain from it, apart from the image one. If the NBA points the finger at the weak impact of the Euroleague, Adam Silver was forced to admit that his new hobbyhorse “
would take time before it would be a commercially viable business“. It tried to be reassuring during a large gathering of European basketball players and potential investors on January 19 by presenting its financial model. The NBA assures that future European “franchises” could be valued at a billion dollars in just five to six years. It relies for this on its success across the Atlantic, with the 30 valued franchises
by the specialist magazine Forbes to $5.4 billion on average, up 21% from last season alone.
We still need to convince clubs like Bayern Munich, Panathinaikos, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, or Valencia who until now are losing money every year (38 million euros loss for Real Madrid in 2024-2025, a record) how they could reach such dimensions. These greats of Europe welcome this new Eldorado with as much kindness as caution. Others like AC Milan, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a dual-hat representative for the Rossoneri and the Redbird Capital fund, could seize the opportunity as the Lombard club was invited to the discussions on January 19
selon Eurohoops. This great commotion, as vague as it may be, will nevertheless have to move up a gear to hope to celebrate its debut in just over 18 months.
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