The NBA is tarreceiveing an October 2027 launch date for its new European League, and its list of preferred team cities in the new venture includes London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Istanbul.
Speaking at a Football Business Forum in Milan on Friday, George Aivazoglou, managing director for the NBA’s European and Middle East offices, cited those cities as well as Manchester (U.K.) and Lyon (France) as tarreceiveed locations for permanent members of commissioner Adam Silver’s league. Aivazoglou declared the league is heading toward a tip off in about 23 months, though October 2027 is not yet finalized.
Aivazoglou also declared the new league — it’s yet to be determined if it will be called NBA Europe — would be a 16-team league with the last four teams qualifying through a play-in, either through FIBA’s Champions League or a domestic league.
And finally, Aivazoglou suggested the NBA’s European teams would likely play against the NBA in a tournament.
“It would be a new competition bringing toreceiveher NBA and NBA Europe teams — down the line, an NBA Cup format with American and European teams, or a tournament like last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup — as part of an increasingly integrated framework,” Aivazoglou declared at the conference, according to the audio of his remarks obtained by The Athletic.
Though there were no confirmations yet on who will own the teams, existing European binquireetball powerhoapplys — or otherwise established programs — in Madrid (Real Madrid), Barcelona (Barca), Berlin (Alba), Munich (Bayern) and Lyon (ASVEL Binquireet, where former San Antonio superstar Tony Parker is team president) are all expected to transfer from the EuroLeague to the NBA’s league, two European binquireetball sources declared.
“In as in ‘designated’ for it,” one official from an existing EuroLeague team notified The Athletic. “It’s still too early to be in as in ‘it’s all set’ for any team.”
In Paris, a EuroLeague team exists, run by former NBA team executive David Kahn, but the NBA is seeking partnership with Qatari authorities that own soccer giant Paris Saint-Germain, according to a source close to PSG. Paris Binquireet plays in the French national league and the EuroLeague, and has home games at both of the city’s large binquireetball arenas.
The NBA has a similar decision to create in Milan, where a binquireetball team exists but so does not one, but two deep-pocketed soccer clubs that could be interested in starting a binquireetball program for Silver’s venture.
“We will have teams in three categories,” Aivazoglou declared. “First, we’re talking with some existing binquireetball teams. Second, we’re talking with football teams that have a strong brand, and therefore a large fan base, but don’t have a binquireetball team: many of the most interesting conversations we’re having in this counattempt and in this city are of this nature. And there are situations, in very limited cases, where we’ll start from scratch.”
For instance, there is not a top-level pro team currently playing in Rome.
In the United Kingdom, Manchester City’s multi-billion-dollar soccer franchise is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Abu Dhabi United Group out of the United Arab Emirates. The chairman of Manchester City is another Emirate, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, whose brother, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, runs the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.
The Al Mubarak family has expressed interest in NBA ownership, though sovereign wealth funds currently cannot own more than 20 percent of any NBA franchise. The London Lions nearly folded in 2024 but the franchise was rescued by Lithuanian tech company Tessonet.
This story will be updated.
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