The NBA aims to a European League, and it plans to use football, the most popular sport on the continent, to its advantage.
Proposed to start in the next two years, NBA Europe is at its advanced stages. Revealed for the first time this March, the Last plans are for a league of 16 teams, 12 of them being permanent members.
Speaking earlier this month from a sportsman at the Front Office in New York, the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, described an “ambitious” early 2027, but added: “I don’t think I would like to go much longer than 2028. The opportunity is now to do something.”
The NBA, which joins forces with FIBA-the International Director for Basketball-hopes that teams will be able to represent a variety of demographic data, Eastern European Basketball Heartlands to new markets and football teams in a multi-club model, all helping to grasp part of the 20 billion dollars.
Athletics spoke to George Aivazoglou, the head of the NBA Europe, to find out more about the plans, the basketball “Cinderella Stories”, marketing the game in Europe and creating flows of “sneakerheads”.
Regarding sports in Europe, football is king, it is therefore not surprising that the NBA seeks to exploit the solid base of fans of this game.
Aivazoglou, who grew up in Greece and was appointed Managing Director for Europe and the Middle East last November, said three types of teams could join the new European League: established teams, football clubs who wish to develop in another sport and new teams.
Speaking before the pre-season rally of the NBA board of directors in New York on September 10, he said: “The existing basketball teams on the continent are very interested in participating and, in many cases, these basketball teams represent a multi-sport organization.”
This first type of club could include the tastes of Real Madrid and Galatasaray, with whom Silver and its main deputies met in July. Real Madrid plays in the Euroleague, the leading leading competition in Europe, but the “A” license of the team in Euroleague expires in 2026.
Existing football clubs wishing to develop in other sports are the second type of teams that could be part of the League, said Aivazoglou.
“It is an excellent opportunity for them to diversify and build a multi-sport proposal, which is very common in certain European countries, such as Spain, Greece or Turkey and less common in others like the United Kingdom, but I think there is a real appetite for us,” he said.
“What is really interesting is that these clubs come with centuries of tradition in many decades, so they have built strong brands. These brands are, in many cases, global brands and have an appeal and fans all over the world.
“On the practical side, these (clubs) are led by operators who know how to fill the arenas and constitute very efficient teams. In addition to the bases of fans they have built, it is a huge value that they can offer to this league from the first day.”
Olympiacos and Real Madrid participate in the Euroleague. (Thomas Coex / AFP via Getty Images)
The discussions known by the public include those with Qatar Sports Investments, which has the Paris Saint-Germain football giant, about the creation of a new Parisian basketball team.
The French capital already houses Paris basketball, which plays in the Euroleague and, As indicated by Athletics in Februaryhas exclusive rights to play in the two arenas of Paris. The cities of Western Europe such as Paris, London, Manchester, Berlin and Rome bring a great commercial call, according to Aivazoglou.
The United Kingdom, especially the Premier League house, is an unexploited market. Although basketball is the second most popular team sport in the United Kingdom, with more than 1.5 million people playing every week, according to the Body Sport England, there has been no UK club in Euroleague since the 2001-02 season.
But we do not know what facility for football fans would associate with their club’s new basketball team and the quantity of a priority basketball team in a multi-club configuration.
“We could also see a scenario where in some cities, some completely new brands are created as part of this league, but I think the majority will come from a type 1 or type program,” said Aivazoglou.
A fall in the current European basketball system is the inability to qualify for its main competitions (Euroleague, Eurocup) thanks to solid interior performance, said Aivazoglou.
The Euroleague of 20 recently expanded teams is semi-farmed with 12 permanent members (licensees of licenses A), and other teams receive jokers to join previous performance, a financial situation or strategic importance for the League. The Eurocup finalists also granted a qualification in the Euroleague for the following year.
The NBA wants to include transparent qualification routes, said Aivazoglou. Football – which has a relegation and a promotion in its European leagues and its qualification for the main competitions of the European Cup via league investments – is never far from their thoughts, although Silver recently warned that “we do not want a high level league”.
“What you have in football is a very meager singular pyramid which is very easy to explain and understand to funds, media investors, potential partners and players,” said Aivazoglou.
“(In European basketball), success in the National League does not necessarily mean qualification or the opportunity to perform at a very high level through the continent in a pan-European manner, and I think it is a large scale because it reduces the value of these national leagues, but this does not allow the multitude of teams of the League of the Ecosystem to dream.
Featured players, such as LeBron James and Steph Curry, help the marketing of the NBA. It is unlikely that the NBA League in Europe has such recognizable names, because the best talents always filter the NBA, but that could keep the emerging stars in Europe longer.
European basketball is largely considered a strong product, with passionate fans and physical and disinterested basketball. Last season, more than three million spectators attended matches in the Euroleague, with an average of 10,589 fans per game, marking the fourth consecutive season of record attendance.
Luka Dončić played for Real Madrid in Euroleague and was appointed MVP in 2018. (Andrej Isakovic / AFP via Getty Images)
“It is not a question of changing the tradition of how the game is played. It must remain very native and authentic, but we must think about new objectives to ensure that we are attracting an audience that is beyond the Hardcore basketball fan, but also in new generations whose behavior and consumption models are radically changing in the world,” said Aivazoglou.
“When you enter into the broadcasting or distribution of the game, we would go very deeply in personalization. I can imagine a world where there are several flows in several languages. Perhaps there are flows for those who like the pure side of the game, another for those who like to place bets, these are high level examples.”
The NBA estimates that, although basketball is the second most popular sport in Europe, with 270 million fans, sport captures less than one percent of the 20 billion dollars in Europe in Europe, the data provided to the League by sports activities and ratified by the Financial Times and the initiate sport.
“The current European landscape does not monetize the basketball fandom very well,” said Aivazoglou. “This translates into the fact that clubs cannot encourage their best talents to stay.”
So much so, they are not only out of the NBA, but also American colleges, which since 2021 can offer name, image and resemblance (zero) packages. The youngest goalscorer in the Euroleague at 15 years, 10 months and six days, Neoklis Avdalas, who was now 19, left Panathinaikos and has embarked on the Hokies of Virginia Tech this summer.
Nick Nurse played and trained in England. (Alex Goodlett / Getty Images)
Nick nurse, head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, spent time in England as a chief coach and player in the 1990s and 2000s, winning two British championships and causing the London towers that have now disappeared in the Euroleague.
During his stay at the Basketball Sans Borders in Manchester in August, the nurse said Athletics: “With the NBA behind, it gives them (Europe) an instantaneous level of super-high credibility. Many leagues in the world have trouble getting advertising, media, fans, etc., but the NBA has this marketing machine that creates a lot of these things, and it will give people something really solid to believe.”
Although the NFL and NBA matches in Europe are regular sales, the name alone is not the guarantee of a successful league on the continent, as shown by the NFL Europe League failed from the NFL which ceased in 2007.
With the Euroleague already established in the region, the NBA will have to compete with it or find a resolution. This could disrupt the existing fans of the Euroleague.
In conversation with Athletics“S Mike VorkunovEuroleague CEO, Paulius Motiejūnas, said they were keeping their options open for the NBA investment. The organization of the league requested investment in investment thanks to the sale of a minority participation.
“I repeat it and I have already said it: we don’t need a new league. We are doing really well. The league grows,” said Motiejūnas. “We are happy to go and do it with the NBA and continuously use their power to develop basketball in Europe. So we are open to this. ”
However, the NBA successfully manages the largest basketball league in the world, as well as the WNBA, the G and the NBA Africa.
Aivazoglou said: “I hope we establish European basketball from a level of sporting competition at the top, almost peer, in terms of interest as European football.
“We want to create a new era, an innovative product that would attract audiences around the world and in all demographic data, not just Hardcore basketball fans, which would also be very happy to look at it. And (we hope) to ensure that the development of talent develops even stronger, and ensuring that the value that is created is redistributed to the European basketball ecosystem, which continues to improve. ”
(Superior photo of George Aivazoglou thanks to the NBA)
