NBA Europe: Barcelona & Euroleague – What’s Next?

No braking. Indeed, NBA and FIBA are moving forward along the entire line with the project of the new European league scheduled to start in autumn 2027. Clubs, possible investors, potential sponsors and the top executives of the US league and government of world basketball participated in “NBA Next: Europe”, the meeting which took place on Monday in a luxury hotel in London. And the meeting strengthened the interest in being part of this project. So much so that not even the announcement by Barcelona, one of the clubs present at the London meeting, that it had renewed its agreement with the Euroleague for 10 years should be understood as a setback to the project or a defeat for the NBA.

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The new league will start in fall 2027, not next season. It’s normal that some clubs like the Blaugrana want to make sure they play at the highest possible level in 2026-27. And in Europe, next season, this will remain the Euroleague. Barcelona’s yes to the competition with which the new competition will inevitably end up clashing must be understood, sources close to the situation suggest to Gazzetta, precisely in this sense. Even the language of Barça’s statement seems to suggest this, with the statement recalling the club’s commitment “to always participate in the best competition available”. The Blaugrana were in London on Monday, one of the 8 clubs currently present in the Euroleague, and last week they met with NBA leaders in Europe for the two regular season games in Berlin and London. Their yes to the renewal with the Euroleague does not exclude that they will be starting the new competition in autumn 2027. Also because all the Euroleague clubs have an exit clause of 10 million euros in their contracts. And the waters in the main continental tournament remain troubled, so much so that the position of CEO Paulius Motiejunas would be at risk precisely because of the choice to go into conflict with the NBA over the new league.

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In the reception room in the basement of the London hotel overlooking Big Ben and the prime minister’s office, in addition to Barça, there were also Olimpia Milano, Real Madrid, Panathinaikos, Asvel, Bayern Munich and Alba Berlin, as well as football clubs such as Manchester City and Milan (for PSG, another interested team, there was a representative of the Qatari fund that controls it) ready to start a basketball division to be part of the project. One that other clubs are interested in: requests have recently arrived from Spain from Valencia, Juventus Badalona and Atletico Madrid. The first two would represent that tradition of European basketball that the NBA and FIBA see as an integral part of this project. Neither Valencia nor Badalona are in the list of 12 cities that have been talked about so far (Milan, Rome, London, Manchester, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Lyon, Athens and Istanbul), but the new League is only now moving into its decisive phase and, sources close to the situation tell Gazzetta, the idea that guides this project is to do it with the right partners so that it is lasting.

the revolution

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NBA is working to make it clear that the idea is not just that of a new basketball league in Europe. It’s about revolutionizing the way of playing sports in the Old Continent, bringing together European sporting tradition and passion with profitable teams, investments in national championships and in the growth of basketball in general, as well as for the 12 cities with fixed franchises. Here, arenas would be built up to NBA standards and the modern way of conceiving sport, capable of functioning 365 days a year and producing wealth for the club. This is also why among the 250 people in the room on Monday there were representatives of financial institutions such as RedBird, Lazard, JP Morgan, Raine, Rothschild, Sixth Street, Blackstone, Arctos, BC Partners and QSI, all interested in being part of the project. Like Nike and Amazon, potential partners. That meeting explained well what the NBA has in mind: in the coming weeks the interested clubs will continue to discuss the potential and economic details for their entry into the deal. The US league’s idea is to present the project to the Board of Governors, the owners’ assembly, in March for the final green light. The vision behind it is clear: a revolution on and off the pitch. Even if there is no official yes yet, there are many clubs in Europe interested in making it a reality.