LONDON — While the EuroLeague isn’t thrilled with the NBA’s plans to create a new competition on the continent, it isn’t worried either.
EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motijunas said of the NBA’s proposed league, “All we’ve heard about is planning or fireworks about how amazing it would be, how much potential it has.” “But it’s one thing to have a theory – and another to implement it.”
Motijunas said: “We have been here for 26 years. We know how Europe works.”
With clubs such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, the EuroLeague is considered the best men’s professional competition outside the NBA. The 20-team league consists of 13 “shareholder” clubs that are exempt from relegation. The rest qualify either through their domestic league or through invitation.
The NBA, in partnership with FIBA, is eyeing a 16-team model with 12 permanent members with a target start date of October 2027. It has identified Athens, Istanbul, Paris, Lyon, Munich, Berlin, Rome, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, London and Manchester as potential host cities.
The focus is currently on the three EuroLeague shareholder clubs that have not renewed their 10-year licenses – Real Madrid, Fenerbahce in Istanbul and Tony Parker-owned ASVEL near Lyon. Parker has indicated his support for the NBA.
Recent holdout Barcelona has indicated it will seek an extension for another 10 years after this season.
“Obviously it’s a big deal. It’s an important brand, and we’re glad they made the commitment,” Motijunas said of Barcelona, which has not commented publicly.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Motijunas said he was confident that all 13 clubs would remain.
“The NBA has been announcing and announcing things for a year, but it’s still nothing you can understand,” Motijunas said. “As businessmen, these are team owners, they also start to see that this is a broken record of ‘we’ll announce later.’ …The beginning of ’27 is already near.”
EuroLeague clubs reportedly have an exit clause of 10 million euros ($11.6 million), but Motiejunas would only say the contract could be broken through “results and legal teams.” “There are no NBA opt-outs,” he said.
The EuroLeague claims it is still open to some type of relationship with the NBA. But in the meantime, it sent a letter to the NBA warning that legal action would be taken if negotiations with EuroLeague shareholders continued.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver ignored the threat earlier Thursday in Berlin orlando magicwon 118-111 memphis grizzlies In the NBA’s first regular season game in Germany.
He also generally ignored the EuroLeague.
Silver said, “If I thought the extent was the interest of the current EuroLeague and their fans, we would not spend that kind of time and attention on this project.”
Media reports indicate that the NBA is looking for a franchise fee of at least $500 million. Silver said any investors would have to be patient because “I think it’s going to take a while for this to become a viable commercial enterprise.” He said that it would take several decades to build.
Silvera cautioned that “potentially” starting a new league is a “huge undertaking” and described talks with Real Madrid and other Spanish clubs as “more in the category of fact finding.”
The European basketball landscape is similar to football as domestic leagues feed into continental competitions. The EuroLeague is like UEFA’s Champions League. There are also several other international leagues in basketball, but they are less known than their football counterparts, so fans tend to get confused. For example, FIBA has its own Basketball Champions League, which would be a potential feeder for the NBA league.
Silver sees potential because basketball is the No. 2 sport in Europe after football.
“Instead of thinking that we are taking part [soccer]I look at the business side of basketball as it exists in Europe now, and it probably represents about 1 percent of the commercial sports market,” he said.
Many European basketball teams, including those in the EuroLeague, have struggled financially. The system often relies on wealthy owners to cover the team’s debts each year. The EuroLeague has implemented spending restrictions to promote financial stability.
In a revenue boost, the EuroLeague last season moved its “Final Four” championship outside of Europe to Abu Dhabi for the first time. As majority owner of Panathinaikos, it also brought a taste of Euro hoops chaos Dimitris Giannakopoulos He was given a five-game ban for his “threatening actions” against the referee.
EuroLeague also awarded a multi-year license to the newly formed Dubai team and recently expanded its partnership with global sports marketing agency IMG.
“We focus on ourselves,” Motijunas said. “We will be able to adapt, there is no question about that and we will continue to fight.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
