European basketball is about to change as we know it. Because in the coming hours, the NBA could go from words to deeds. The Board of Governors, the governing body of the U.S. professional basketball competition led by Commissioner Adam Silver, meets in New York. On the table is the possible landing in Europe with the creation of a major competition supervised by NBA and FIBA. The EuroLeague, meanwhile, is waiting with the contract that grants licenses to be signed in many cases. Its big clubs, Olympiacos, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Fenerbahçe, Panathinaikos, Bayern, among others, are studying the possibility of aligning themselves with the new competition.
“We are looking closely at whether there is an opportunity to professionalize basketball at another level, to create a greater commercial opportunity,” Silver said in January. And therein lies the key to it all: a business opportunity that the NBA has observed can be developed in Europe after a study over the years in which the EuroLeague does not fare very well. The NBA is relying on FIBA, which also sees the opportunity to once again sponsor, together with the American giant, a great European club competition, something that has not happened since the split of the EuroLeague in 1999.
We are looking closely at whether there is an opportunity to professionalise basketball at another level to create a greater commercial opportunity
The NBA believes that basketball is not sufficiently exploited in Europe, that most of the clubs participating in basketball have large economic losses and that there are huge capitals, such as Paris, Moscow and London, where the business can be fantastic. Because the NBA is mainly driven by money. “We believe that with the markets, if the right incentives are created, you can get significant additional investment. And ultimately that’s the way to grow the game at all levels,” Silver said. It could be an opportunity for CSKA to return to the spotlight
500 million euros per franchise
Although everything is speculation, there is talk of the possibility that 500 million euros will have to be paid to acquire a franchise that guarantees participation in the new tournament with 16 teams. Obviously, the ‘offer’ is only within the reach of the big soccer clubs with basketball sections, such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Barcelona, continental basketball colossi such as Olympiakos, Panathinaikos or Fenerbahce, and other entities backed by Qatari money, such as PSG, which is considering the possibility of entering this tournament, or the team being formed in Dubai.
Silver could announce the next steps in the coming hours. The tournament would never start before 2026 and FIBA wants some clubs that are part of its competitions and belong to major European cities to be integrated. The EuroLeague, meanwhile, is waiting, although it could become the Suproliga of 2000 if the escape of its great standard-bearers is confirmed. The decision to play the EuroLeague final in Dubai did not help. In the NBA it was interpreted as a headlong rush in search of ‘easy’ money and with a strong toll: the uprooting among fans. European basketball will decide its great basketball title in Asia. It was a devastating message. Madrid was one of the clubs that opposed that F4 in the Emirates. Barca, which in business is in tune with its great sporting rival, could follow in its footsteps if the financial conditions are right for the big leap. The NBA’s landing is about to happen. The plan is in place
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