Speaking to reporters in New York on Thursday, commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that the NBA and FIBA are moving forward on their exploration of a new professional basketball league in Europe, per Joe Vardon, Adam Crafton, and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
“We feel now is the time to move to that next stage,” Silver said Thursday. “At our (Board of Governors) meeting today, there was enthusiastic support from our club owners about continuing to explore this opportunity.”
While Silver confirmed a few of the details about the league reported by Sportico earlier this week, some of the information he shared today was new or differed slightly from that initial report.
Here are a few of the highlights:
- Silver said the plan would be for the league to have 16 teams, with 12 permanent slots and four rotating.
- The league would be “integrated into the current European basketball landscape,” according to the NBA, meaning teams would also compete in their respective domestic leagues. Non-permanent members would be offered a “merit-based path to qualification,” per the NBA.
- Silver would want a salary cap system in place for the league.
- Current NBA owners would own equity in the league, but not in individual clubs.
- The league would likely use FIBA rules, including a 40-minute game instead of the NBA’s 48 minutes.
- As Marc J. Spears of Andscape tweets, Silver said the NBA is looking at existing facilities as well as the possibility of “new state-of-the-art arenas.”
The process remains in the early stages, with Silver referring to it as being in the “modeling phase.”
The NBA doesn’t yet have any formal agreements in place with existing clubs or investors who would establish new teams. However, it sounds like those conversations are ongoing. The NBA’s press release states that discussions have been taking place with “prospective investors, teams, arena developers, and commercial partners.”
Sources tell The Athletic that Real Madrid, Barcelona, ASVEL Basket, and Fenerbahce are among the EuroLeague teams worth watching as possible defectors to the new NBA league, though none of those teams have informed the EuroLeague of their intent to leave at this point. Former NBA star Tony Parker is the controlling owner of ASVEL and has been speaking to the NBA as a “conduit” between the two sides, The Athletic adds.
The NBA previously attempted to partner with the EuroLeague, which is Europe’s top existing professional basketball league, but the EuroLeague rejected those advances, per The Athletic.
The NBA’s statement indicates that additional updates from the league and FIBA will be provided at a later date.
Can’t wait for the guy that does the bankruptcy films on YouTube to do the NBA in about five years how they became the Sears of sports by backing losing business like Kmart
Silver please just give us 2 more teams in the states
He said they aren’t considering it at the very least until the Celtics and Wolves sales are finalized, since that would impact what the final figures would look like.
The Gleague isn’t popping and having games on tv…why do they think this is a good idea. The talent level would be worse than Gleague and all the good foreign players are not jumping ship, if they were they are going to NBA.
What’s in it for the euro teams? Just giving NBA owners equity (money) for nothing they don’t already have?
> What’s in it for the euro teams?
Money.
NBA economic scale is > 20x larger than EuroLeague’s. Average NBA team is valued ~$4B; EuroLeague teams, $50M-200M.
The NBA believes that within 15 years, with investment, there can be full-fledged NBA teams (82 games year, comparable ticket and media revenues) in at least 6 European cities, and maybe 8. These cities have the required size, affluence, and established interest in basketball: London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Rhine-Ruhr, Munich, possibly Amsterdam, possibly Milan.
The NBA is the fastest growing (by revenue) pro league in the world, at ~31%/yr. That’s almost 10% bigger than European football and the NFL. There is too big a market in Western Europe for some form of NBA expansion not to happen.
It’s all about U.S. oligarchs annexing a successful business and siphoning off the European fans’ money.
The NBA is not a sports competition but a mere profit-driven franchise entertainment circus, created to enrich its owners. The worse a franchise’s performance, the bigger the reward, i.e. high draft picks. Which entails deliberate losing, often for many seasons in a row, including manipulated game outcomes and consequential betting fraud.
Since European sports structures and fan mentality are completely different from its U.S counterpart, the promised money, which Europeans didn’t ask for in the first place, will forever remain a mirage. Think NFL and the “success” and “profitability” of their past European endeavors.
The real prize is the EuroLeague, which U.S. oligarchs would love to exploit for their own personal gain. It’s all about taking that successful business away from its European creators, sooner rather than later. EuroLeague executives had already revealed the U.S.’ true intentions two months ago:
“The EuroLeague rejected the NBA’s proposal, since it didn’t want to give up control of its operations. “They wanted the heart and the head,” a EuroLeague executive told The Athletic.”
link to hoopsrumors.com
All that pompous bloviation in regard to NBA fairytale profits and growth by some designated astroturfer is just a bunch of hot air.
NBA franchises in European cities? London, Paris, München, Rhein-Main area? In competition to existing true sports clubs and their passionate fans? Aside from insurmountable legal obstacles – a draft would be a massive violation of European labor laws – do arrogant illiterate U.S. Americans really believe that Europeans would stay up until early morning to watch their teams play nine time zones away? Even more so when it involes a corrupt manipulated product that currently loses U.S. fan interest on a massive scale?
All that braggadocious U.S. drivel is just a reflection of the country’s current and past political leadership.
> It’s all about U.S. oligarchs annexing a successful
> business and siphoning off the European fans’
> money.
I’ll stick to a purely economic analysis, since it successfully explains the NBA’s past behavior and is implicit in every aspect described in this plan. The NBA seeks to take advantage of the business opportunity fueled by rapid growth in basketball around the world. The target is something like the UEFA Championship League, but across multiple continents
The business model is for Europeans to ultimately have full ownership of their franchises. The goal is to expand the global reach of the league, thereby benefitting every owner, no matter what the country. The model is not to “siphon” money from countries, but to expand the revenues available to each team.
The initial ownership positions that the NBA would take in the near-term would be converted to local ownership as soon as possible. The NBA says that it’s open to any local ownership model, including the ‘socios’.
By “oligarchs”, I assume you mean the 30 ownership groups representing the current NBA. The goal is to have more of such groups.
It’s the explosion of interest by fans worldwide that will ultimately shape the landscape. Local regulation will also be a factor, but, in my opinion, money will ultimately win.
“Local regulation will also be a factor, but, in my opinion, money will ultimately win.”
That ignorant arrogant statement says all about U.S. primitiveness. Apparently you lack any knowledge regarding EU legislation and European workers rights history if you believe that your worthless dollars would simply trump everything, as it does in the U.S..
“The target is something like the UEFA Championship League, but across multiple continents”
It’s “UEFA Champions League”. Maybe educate yourself about the basics first before spouting further megalomaniacal nonsense.
No one in Europe wants your global basketball champions league format. The EuroLeague with its continental rivalries is just fine as it is.
“The initial ownership positions that the NBA would take in the near-term would be converted to local ownership as soon as possible”
How generous! Even if it’s pure fantasy drivel. You seem to confuse Europe with the North American continent at the time of the first occupiers’ arrival. Glass beads and whiskey. Maybe the promise of 40 acres and a mule, too, right?
Please keep your ridiculous world views to yourself and stop forcing yourself into places where you are not welcome.
> Please keep your ridiculous world views to yourself
> and stop forcing yourself into places where you are
> not welcome.
I’ll continue to stick to the facts because you seem unfamiliar.
1) There are no prohibitions against foreign (American) investment in sports teams in any of the Big 5 leagues/countries other than Germany.
2) American entities (in some cases working with Middle East entities) already have majority/controlling interests of most of the successful European football teams outside of Germany.
Moreover, in all 4 of these countries other than Germany, local governments actively solicit foreign investment in football teams because many of teams aren’t otherwise financially viable.
The national goverments of England and France have told the NBA they are eager to be represented in a global league. It seems a certainty at this point that we’ll see NBA affiliated teams of some form in those 2 cities within 5 years.
FACTS:
In England: Americans have majority control of 10 Premiere League teams, including Chelsea, Liverpool, and ManU, and substantial interest in may others.
France is even more reliant on foreign ownership than England: PSG, Marseilles, Toulouse, Lyon, etc are all American or foreign owned.
Same as Italy, AC Milan, AC Roma, Fiorentina, Genoa, and many others owned by Americans.
Spain has many prominent teams that are American owned, but the two most prominent, in Madrid and Barcelona, which have the “socios” business model, are aggressively pursuing ownership discussions with the NBA.
Germany may regulate against participating in the NBA, even with German ownership, but they would be alone amongst the Big 5 countries.
Nice straw man, as I’ve never mentioned any ownership models but rather elaborated on European labor laws and fan culture.
I’d recommend you obtain an ounce of knowledge regarding laws and regulations of the EU and its member nations. None of your bumptious drivel bears any relevance regarding the present issues.
But since you’ve mentioned European football: remember what happened when U.S. EPL owners tried to force their Super League circus upon the fans. Supporters occupied pitches and UEFA as well as domestic leagues immediately threatened participating clubs and players with exclusion from any national as well as international competitions. That settled it pretty quickly.
Aside from legal obstacles, European fans (and courts, cue: betting fraud) wouldn’t put up with any franchise’s tanking strategy within a continental sports culture that upholds serious competition above all.
It’s obvious that you have no knowledge of the topic at hand and probably no passport either, a common theme among your sorry U.S. compatriots.
Waldfee, ad hominem attacks won’t change the facts, and with every post you lose more credibility.
“straw man”? It’s an empirical fact that American and other foreign ownership controls most of European football, Germany being the exception.
Fact: the NBA is investing billions because European regulations, outside of Germany, enable and promote the venture. The presumption that the NBA and the Eiropeans involved in the venture don’t know what they’re doing is yours alone.
Your assumptions about my citizenship are similarly incorrect.
“It’s an empirical fact that American and other foreign ownership controls most of European football…”
In 2007 FIFA counted at least 215,000 football clubs in Europe. The sport is way bigger than your handful of clubs.
These and other ridiculous statements paint you exactly as the ignorant megalomaniac I said you are. Who do you think you’re fooling?
Facts speak for themselves. I’ll stick to the publicly available economic data, even if you insist that’s “megalomaniacal” or “bumptious”.
The Big 5 Leagues represent >99% of the economic value for men’s football in those 5 countries, by both audience size and team valuation.
For the 4 countries other than Germany:
– 41 of 78 teams are majority non-European owned
– 83% of the total ownership participation (all teams together, including those without majority foreign ownerahip) is foreign (64% is American, 23% Middle Eastern, 7% Chinese, 6% Russian).
Fans want to see the best players in the world, who, in the 21st Century, command much higher relative compensation. There isn’t enough investment capital in Europe alone to finance the Big 5 leagues. Without foreign investment, the EPL, La Ligua, Ligue 1, and Serie A as we know them would not be viable. There would be only a fraction of the teams, with star players going to wealthier countries.
This is a long way off. Save your hate for playoffs…..
Greed has ruined the NBA
Ughhh the NBA is already at its weakest point ever. Any euro league team could beat our champions
> Please keep your ridiculous world views to yourself
> and stop forcing yourself into places where you are
> not welcome.
I’ll continue to stick to the facts because you seem unfamiliar.
1) There are no prohibitions against foreign (American) investment in sports teams in any of the Big 5 leagues/countries other than Germany.
2) American entities (in some cases working with Middle East entities) already have majority/controlling interests of most of the successful European football teams outside of Germany.
Moreover, in all 4 of these countries other than Germany, local governments actively solicit foreign investment in football teams because many of teams aren’t otherwise financially viable.
The national goverments of England and France have told the NBA they are eager to be represented in a global league. It seems a certainty at this point that we’ll see NBA teams of some form in those 2 cities within 5 years.
FACTS:
In England: Americans have majority control of 10 Premiere League teams, including Chelsea, Liverpool, and ManU, and substantial interest in may others.
France is even more reliant on foreign ownership than England: PSG, Marseilles, Toulouse, Lyon, etc are all American or foreign owned.
Same as Italy, AC Milan, AC Roma, Fiorentina, Genoa, and many others owned by Americans.
Spain has many prominent teams that are American owned, but the two most prominent, in Madrid and Barcelona, which have the “socios” business model, are aggressively pursuing ownership discussions with the NBA.
Germany may regulate against participating in the NBA, even with German ownership, but they would be alone amongst the Big 5 countries.