Adam Silver and the NBA see an opportunity — and a lot of dollar signs — in starting their own league in Europe.
In Paris for a couple of games between Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs and the Pacers, NBA Commissioner Silver again confirmed the league is looking into expanding its footprint on the European continent.
“We are looking very closely to see if there’s an opportunity to professionalize the game to another level here, to create a larger commercial opportunity,” Silver said at a press conference in Paris. “And not just because commercial opportunity suggests you can grow revenue, but because we believe that with markets, if you can create proper incentives, you can get significant additional investment. And ultimately, that’s the way to grow the game at all levels.”
What form this league ultimately takes is unclear, but it would be independent of the NBA (not a European division of the league). It could involve existing powerhouse teams — such as Real Madrid and FC Barcelona — as well as the creation of new teams, possibly run by powerful soccer clubs looking to expand their footprints. The NBA has reached out to clubs with rumors swirling about teams in Manchester and Berlin, reports Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic,
FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis confirmed last month that FIBA and the NBA were discussing a joint-venture league, one that could cut the legs out from under the existing EuroLeague. The EuroLeague works similarly to the way the Champions League (and the Europa League) work for soccer, except that there are 13 permanent members — established powerhouse clubs like Real Madrid — and those clubs are automatically in the EuroLeague every year, with spots open for 13 other clubs to play their way into the tournament. Those 13 permanent members run the EuroLeague itself under a license, which was recently extended. The NBA may be able to poach some of those teams to help jumpstart this new venture.
“What we do at the NBA is we run leagues. We, of course, run the WNBA, we have the [Basketball Africa League], we have the G League and we have a 2K video [game] league, so we operate five different leagues, and we think it’s an expertise we have,” Silver said.
Whatever the NBA’s plans are in Europe, this is more of a long-term vision.
“We have no agreements in place,” Silver said. “We’re not ready to make any additional announcements and we’ll continue to learn all we can and to see if there is a path to move forward.”
If there are enough dollar signs to interest NBA owners, the league will move forward.
Read the full article here
