The NBA It is about to create a basketball league in Europe, a colonization that would cause an unprecedented earthquake in the continental basket and that would be a death wound for the Euroleagueto date maximum continental tournament. The American competition, in full economic growth after the sale of its television rights until 2036 by 76,000 million Of dollars and their approach to the world of sports bets, it has been ruminating a possible expansion to the old continent for years, an idea that has crystallized in recent months and that, in principle, could be made effective in 2026 after their mandamases met today in New York.
Adam SilverNBA commissioner and accompanied by the Secretary General of the FIBA, Andreas Zagklisconfirmed the news at a press conference: «We are ready to reach the next level our commitment to create a competition in Europe (…). There are many clubs that are excited about our project, basketball is the second most important sport on the contine FIBA”He said, despite the fact that the final decision must still be voted.
The leader confirmed that there is still nothing determined, but that his idea is to take the best of American basketball and the European to generate the best possible product. “We are fortunate to be able to create a league from scratch, I don’t know if the games will last 48 minutes or 40, although I think this is an advantage.”
As Silver confirmed, the competition will have 12 seats (it could be extended to 16), four of which would go for the best sets in the Euroleague, such as the real Madridhe Barcelona, he Olympiacos, he Asvel Villeurbanne or the Fenerbahçe. The rest would be created from scratch. Strategic cities such as London or Paris are chosen to house new franchises, generated by NBA itself, although with the option of being sold by an amount close to the 500 million To new owners, according to diverse. In any case, Americans would always maintain 50% of the property, a formula similar to that used in the creation of the female NBA (WNBA) in 1996.
Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Munich, Berlin, Rome and Athens, along with the capitals of England and France, would be the cities chosen to house the new teams. Even soccer clubs such as PSG or Manchester City They would have already started contacts to have their own basketball division in the new competition. In the cases of Real Madrid and Barcelona, the entry fee of 500 million would not have to pay as a whole when considered by the NBA as fundamental strategic partners for this landing.
The Russian sets, banned from the invasion of Ukraine In 2022, they would be one of the main interested parties, because with the peace agreement on the way to be signed, they could again dispute a great continental competition. Moscow It is another of the cities in which the NBA would be interested in providing a franchise for its gigantic project.
The main partner of the NBA in this adventure is the FIBAspecifically its European division, chaired by the former Spanish player Jorge Garbajosa and that maintains a raw battle with the Euroleague since the creation of it in 1999. In fact, the highest international basketball body does not recognize the trophy as an officer when considering illegal its splitting of the European Cup. Therefore, the arrival of a new millionaire league would allow him to advise his competitor, which would be very affected. It is no accident that the NBA has chosen 2026 for its colonization, because that same year the licenses of the teams with the Euroleague And many of the great shields rejected last May to sign a renewal.
The clubs, in principle, would see the arrival of the NBA as an unprecedented economic opportunity. The Euroleague, although he has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi to dispute the next three final Four in the Persian Gulf in exchange for 75 million euros (the decision caused a lot of discomfort in one of its members, such as Madrid) and has prolonged its collaboration with the giant IMG (sports marquetin) Until 2036, it seems that it has not managed to squeeze all the monetary potential of its product. But in the NBA, after deep conversations with different audits, they think that the expansion to Europe and the Middle East could generate 3,000 million of dollars per campaign. In short: the teams would not hesitate to leave the Euroleague and join the new American project.
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