For a very long time, the European expansion of the NBA was nothing more than a rather illusory sea serpent. Except that now, the Great League seems to be taking a project on the Old Continent seriously…
According to the Spanish media Relevocontacts were thus established with several major European basketball clubs, in particular the Panathinaikoswhile the NBA is also reportedly waiting for signs of real Madrid or Fenerbahçe in relation to the project. Panathinaikos, however, quickly responded to Eurohoops that there had been no contact with the NBA or FIBA on this subject.
Still according to Relevo, the NBA would like to launch its European league from the 2026/27 season and it obviously needs “top” clubs to make it an interesting product for fans and investors.
Negotiations planned in Paris in January…
Renowned clubs to which it will now have to try to sell its economic strike force…
“As for Europe, I think we agree that the level of interest in basketball there is not commensurate with commercial activities” explained Adam Silver a few months ago. “Interest level is here (left hand raised), business activity is here (right hand raised). For all of us, this is not just a business opportunity. We've been in this situation before in our leagues, where if you can't demonstrate to the market that you can run a successful business, it's not sustainable. For basketball to continue to grow, we need a viable tournament series or league. »
On the FIBA side, we are also very cautious about the NBA's initiative. The only certainty is that there should be quite a few meetings and negotiations in France, on the occasion of the next NBA Paris Games, as Andreas Zagklis, the general secretary of FIBA, had suggested, he a few days ago.
