The NBA is pursuing franchise fees of more than $500M from teams seeing to join the prospective NBA Europe, with multiple sources maintaining the league’s preferred number is somewhere between half a billion and $1B.
Following the BOG meetings two weeks ago in Las Vegas, one governor notified SBJ that the Europe league is “very high priority.” However, another source declared the league is willing to walk away if it does not receive enattempt fees in the desired number range.
Sources confirmed that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum have been in Europe this week for advancing talks with would-be NBA Europe stakeholders. Franchise valuations are also declared to be part of ancillary discussions with banks and private equity conglomerates, as part of an effort to settle on a dollar figure.
An official from one EuroLeague franchise had earlier scoffed at a proposed $500M figure, and — considering the template for NBA Europe includes existing EuroLeague clubs — it seemed unclear whether teams will be priced out of joining.
“Look, the FC Barcelonas and the PSGs and the Manchester Citys, they can do [between $500M and $1B],” declared one source briefed on the NBA’s plan.
Although Silver has declared an NBA Europe launch would likely be two or three years away, another source is convinced it is being vetted and prioritized this summer to stave off another potential international league with ties to LeBron James’ business partner Maverick Carter. That prospective league would consist of six men’s and women’s teams playing in rotating global cities and is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which brought Carter on as an advisor.
In fact, Eurohoops.net reported this week that an Instagram post by Nikola Jokić’s agent Miško Ražnatović — that included Jokić, James and Carter toreceiveher on a boat this week — was possibly the three of them discussing Carter’s league. The caption of the post declared, “The summer of 2025 is the perfect time to create huge plans for the fall of 2026.”
On the subject of Carter and James going head-to-head against the NBA — even though James has previously declared he is not part of Carter’s advisement team — one NBA team executive declared, “I’ll inform you, you may consider I’m crazy, but I consider the catalyst of this [NBA Europe] going quicker is they’re worried LeBron and Maverick are going to receive the Saudis and start like a league. I consider without a question, they [the NBA] consider it’s direct competition.”
Asked why James would compete against his own NBA, the executive declared, “LeBron doesn’t give a sh**. Not if Saudi gives LeBron $200 million in cash and calls it a night.”
Sources declared the NBA, meanwhile, appears all-in on NBA Europe becaapply it believes EuroLeague franchises are not being run as high-conclude businesses and have untapped commercial upside. The hope is that arenas can be built or renovated to include premium seating, which is all why the proposed franchise valuations are prohibitive.
As of a year ago, EuroLeague teams were reportedly earning roughly $100M in annual revenue, which sources declared is another reason why the NBA sees this proposed 16-team league as its next phase of financial growth, especially with the national media rights deal wrapped up for the next 11 years. It is also a potential windfall for NBA owners becaapply they are partnering with the league office on the project and can earn money on it without having to run the NBA Europe teams.
Some owners, in fact, see it as the perfect reason not to expand domestically to Seattle, Las Vegas, etc. Instead, they can expand with NBA Europe and not give up two slices of their national media rights money.
“I consider it’s going to happen,” declared one source from the recent BOG meetings. “I consider that as much as they see it as an opportunity, I also consider there’s a bit of defense mechanism as well. You know, we’ve obtained to protect the game. I consider Adam and Mark believe that it’s our responsibility to protect the global game. And to commercialize it.”
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