By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Chus Bueno, the newly appointed CEO of Euroleague Basketball, told Jose Ignacio Huguet for Mundo Deportivo that his new role is a ‘passion job’ at a ‘complex but opportune moment’. Reflecting on a career that spans being an ACB player, an NBA executive, and a sports investment consultant, Bueno addressed the looming shadow of the NBA’s potential expansion into Europe. He confirmed that the American league has opened a ‘data room’ to present its vision to potential investors, a move he believes could ultimately benefit the entire sport if handled through cooperation.
“There are two scenarios. The NBA raises the money, and it’s 5,000 million, as they say, or as it is read in the press, what they aspire to. Well, it would be very good news for basketball. European basketball has never had 5,000 million to be invested in its ecosystem. Then we would have to sit down with them to say: how can we together maximize this opportunity? And we have to be well-positioned to be able to have a correct dialogue to be able to do it together.”
Bueno warned that the greatest threat to the sport’s growth is not competition itself, but the dilution of value through market fragmentation. He argued that having multiple overlapping entities makes it nearly impossible to attract the kind of massive commercial deals seen in the United States.
“I think they also know it’s easier to do it together. One of the problems basketball has had is that it hasn’t monetized, and that’s why the NBA sees an opportunity to monetize. I already saw that when I was at the NBA. Everything has been too fractured. When you fragment the market, you dilute the value, and then it is much more difficult to monetize the fans because they are divided.”
“If the NBA comes and does things alone… we believe from this side of the table that it will fragment the market even more and divide the value even more,” added the 56-year-old executive.
When asked about the most likely outcome of these high-level negotiations, Bueno was pragmatic. He suggested that while both sides would have to make concessions, a unified front is the only way to ensure the quality of the game doesn’t suffer.
“If they raise the money, the most logical thing would be a joint competition. Having two top-level competitions would split the market and lower the average level. It wouldn’t help anyone. The best thing is to do it together, even if it implies renunciations by both parties.”
The interest in European basketball is not limited to the NBA. Bueno noted that institutional capital is already circling the Euroleague, viewing it as the next major frontier for sports investment following the influx of money into football and American leagues.
“Because funds are entering sports. They have entered the NBA and the NFL. They have already entered football. The next natural step in Europe is basketball. It is money that enters the sport and accelerates growth. In the month and four days I’ve been in the Euroleague, we’ve talked to more than 25 funds interested in investing in us, with or without the NBA. Many funds want to invest in the Euroleague as it is now.”
One of the cornerstones of Bueno’s strategy is the modernization of infrastructure. He believes that for clubs to grow organically, they must move away from a reliance on external subsidies and toward owning and monetizing their own venues.
“It is one of the things we identified and presented to the Board, and they gave us the green light. It is a way to improve the organic growth of the clubs. We want to help clubs finance and modernize themselves. The big ones might be able to finance themselves alone, but for others, this help could be very good. We made a calculation that we might need 1,000 million, and in one week, we already had four funds that wanted to put it in.”
To secure this kind of investment, however, the Euroleague needs to offer more than just a temporary seat at the table. Bueno is advocating for a structural shift that provides clubs with the long-term stability required to justify massive capital expenditures.
“The patrimonial value of the club is acquired depending on what you do. A license lasts ten years, but what happens in year eleven? If you are a franchise, your club value is much higher than if you simply have a ten-year participation right. Franchises help you because you give certainty and security to the infrastructure investments you want to amortize… in the book value of a company, having a value as a franchise gives you a much higher company valuation than not having that.”
Bueno also addressed the unique challenges faced by legendary fan-owned clubs like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. While these institutions operate under a different model than private franchises, he believes they can still leverage the benefits of new investment without compromising their traditional structures.
“Barca and Madrid have financed themselves without becoming public limited companies. I don’t think they need to. Different vehicles have been created. Madrid created a company, that was Bernabeu SL, so that money for the stadium could come in. Barca has also created some companies. What happens is that, like any club, you want to protect your equity value and you want to look at operations in a different way than if you are the owner… To the members of a club, it creates a bit more doubt, fear, or confusion.”