The NBA continues to move toward launching a league in Europe.
The league announced Wednesday it has begun the process of examining markets and bids from prospective investors for the proposed 12-team league that it hopes to launch in 2027.
“We have received significant interest from a range of prospective teams and investors for permanent franchise spots in a new league in Europe backed by the NBA and FIBA,” deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said in a statement Wednesday. “The level of engagement and the scale of the bids reflect the marketplace’s belief in our proposed model and the enormous, untapped potential for European basketball. We will now review the bids in more detail and shortlist the partners who share our vision and commitment to accelerating the growth of the game across the continent.”
The news comes a week after the latest NBA Board of Governors meeting, where the league’s owners continued to support the prospective European venture. No vote was taken on the league.
The NBA has received interest in the Europe league, which it is working on with global basketball governing body FIBA. Bids for slots in the league came in between $500 million and $1 billion, with several bids greater than $1 billion. The NBA has been in conversations with more than a dozen current teams across the continent, including ones that play in EuroLeague.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week that the EuroLeague is still a possible partner in the proposed league and hopes they can find a way to work together.
“I think for the betterment of European basketball, the best outcome would be if we came together with the EuroLeague here and that we came up with a systematic approach to growing the game throughout Europe,” Silver told reporters. “That means complementing the country leagues, working together with the EuroLeague and working together with our federation, FIBA.”
EuroLeague CEO Chus Bueno—who has been in that position only since Jan. 30—said last month that he hopes his league and the NBA can “find a solution that can maximize the basketball product in Europe.” On Jan. 9, three weeks before Bueno’s tenure began, the EuroLeague sent the NBA a letter warning of potential legal action if the NBA continued talking with teams that are under long-term contracts to play in EuroLeague.
“For me, this is off the table right now,” Bueno said when asked about the letter in an interview published on March 6. “I don’t want to think about it.”
While there is mutual interest between the NBA and EuroLeague to collaborate, there have been no formal meetings between the two, a source familiar with the matter tells Front Office Sports. The possibility has been discussed informally, however, including in late February, and the two sides are expected to meet again later this month, another source says.
The NBA and FIBA will now examine the bids and determine which ones are the best fit for their shared vision of the league before presenting them to the Board of Governors. While their latest meeting was just a week ago, Silver said the board plans to meet again in May to vote on new anti-tanking proposals for next season ahead of the regularly scheduled meeting in July.
FIBA and the NBA plan to announce the league and its members in a rolling format over time rather than announcing the full league all at once.
