By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
EuroLeague owners, or at least most of them, will make a key decision for the future of the competition, which is expected to expand to 24 teams from the 2027-28 season and add eight new franchises.
As Eurohoops had reported, there are currently 13 candidates for the eight franchise spots, with the addition of Hapoel Jerusalem and also Aris BC to the initial 11 clubs that presented their case at the end of August. Those clubs are Crvena zvezda, Dubai, Hapoel Tel Aviv, London Lions, Napoli Basket, PAOK, Paris, Partizan Belgrade, Roma Maxima, Valencia, and Virtus Bologna.
This is going to be the main point of the meeting in Lake Como, not the offer made by the NBA for a collaboration. Nobody from the NBA or FIBA will attend this meeting, which was planned well before the NBA’s offer was on the table.
Of course, the future of the sport in Europe and the NBA offer will be discussed, but the core of the meeting is the EuroLeague franchises and the expansion.
Neither the NBA nor the EuroLeague has commented on the nature of the offer; however, according to multiple sources, this is not an offer of a buyout for the EuroLeague, and what’s on the table doesn’t seem enough for any kind of collaboration.
With less than one year left until the expected tip-off of NBA Europe, it remains to be seen if there’s still a possibility of a joint competition or if the scenario of two competing leagues will become a reality.
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