After closing the collective agreement and the television contract that will govern the League for the next few years, the next step in the mind of Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, is the expansion of teams with which to get even more performance from his already well-established competition..
This was made clear recently, a debate that will take place again “starting this fall”just after knowing that those two keys that he needed to maintain the growth of the competition, were in his power to open the doors.
While the conversation usually refers to the addition of at least two franchises to the annual tournament, with Seattle, Las Vegas and even Mexico City being the NBA’s priorities, the European route is opening up again. It is the boss himself who has referred to all this..
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In conversation with The Associated Press The aforementioned Silver touched on this subject at the Olympic basketball tournaments held between Lille and Paris on 2 July at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. They are now on the hunt for Europe, where they are considering creating a tournament with their stamp (they have yet to specify whether it will be short or long-term). “We want to make sure we have a sufficient understanding of this opportunity. We will take the necessary time before moving forward with any initiative.”he assessed. “We don’t want to damage the backbone of the basketball infrastructure that is in place. On the other hand, in terms of regional competitions in Europe, I think (although we are still studying it) that many of the investors lose significant amounts of money every year. And although this is not just about money, many things that make you lose money without any real sense end up not surviving.”he pointed out forcefully, and the fact is that basketball continues to be in deficit even at the highest levels. “We haven’t made any decisions. I still think we have a huge opportunity. It’s not like we want to transform an entire league in a short period of time. But I think there is an appetite among our owners to invest a little bit more in basketball globally. Given the quality of basketball here in Europe, it would make sense for us to try to do something with it.”he explained.
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The NBA The Euroleague is looking to expand its horizons beyond the thirty teams that it has in its Association. But this European route is being worked on diligently and, in this respect, secretly. Knowing that they have to reckon with the inherent duality, with a war that has been subsiding for two years, in the Old Continent: on one side is the Euroleague and on the other is the Federation. And the League is leaning towards talking with the public entity over the private one.
Sportsman reported several months ago that the machinery was being activated. A European league designed by the NBA, as they have on the African continent (BAL), is in the pipeline. To do so, it hired The Raine Group, an investment fund that has worked with WWE and UFC, to evaluate its possibilities. In response to a query from The Athletic Regarding these negotiations, a FIBA spokesperson confirmed them: “We have them on numerous projects around the world, including Europe”. The talks are part of the cooperation that FIBA seeks with the NBA, and vice versa, to grow basketball in all corners of the planet, as they say from the federation, but of course Europe is the icing on the cake when it comes to basketball’s impact outside the United States.
The FIBA Eight years ago, Silver created a competition parallel to the Euroleague, the Basketball Champions League, in an attempt to reduce the impact of its rival, a private entity in which the clubs were the owners of the competition. This was in the style of the North American league, which fits with its way of proceeding. However, the expansion that Silver has promoted throughout the world has gone hand in hand with the International Federation. The link with them remains.
NBA and Euroleague, one against the other?
What would a landing by the NBA lead to? The Euroleague would be displaced. In fact, it is feared that some teams would change ships if such a move were to occur. The renewal of priority licenses, not by invitation, has become a reality in recent weeks, although the US points out that they are not entirely guaranteed, and will be effective for fifteen years (starting next year and until 2040). Madrid, Barça and Baskonia are the Spanish teams that remain in ownership. Euroleague sources point out to journalist Mike Vorkunov the uncertainty regarding this move, which could cause some to panic: “The fear has always been that if the NBA enters, it will be like in the United States: business, entertainment and then sports.”says a member of the organization. “No one was expecting the NBA to come out swinging right now, but there is a certain need to structure markets and tournaments in a certain way. And there is one brand that has proven it can do it.”says the president of one of the clubs. The Euroleague has not been left behind by this movement and has hired the services of the firm LionTree to evaluate its market options; because here money is going to be in the conversation even if it is secondary. An NBA in Europe is not so far away.
