By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
In the past, the NBA and FIBA have always said that they wanted to find a way to collaborate with the EuroLeague.
However, with former NBA Europe executive Chus Bueno becoming the EuroLeague CEO, things may have changed positively in this direction.
As NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said in an LA meeting with European press, which is covering the NBA All-Star Game, Bueno “can be a bridge”.
As he explained: “We do know Chus well; he has worked for us for a dozen years or so. And we wished Chus well, we congratulated him, and we talked to him. I think Chus has to speak to his clubs, which he represents, but we do hope with FIBA that we can all sit down at the table and continue to engage in a positive dialogue. We always said from the very beginning that we wanted to work together with the EuroLeague to align everyone in the ecosystem, and that was always our objective. And that will continue to be our objective, and I think that having Chus there, somebody we know well and who knows European basketball well, perhaps he can be a bridge between us, FIBA, and the EuroLeague clubs. We are hopeful that in those conversations we will find ways to work together”.
Meanwhile, the NBA is continuing its plan for its European league, and after the meeting with potential investors in London, the wheels are turning, as Tatum elaborated: “Ιn the last few weeks after the games in London, we have been engaged with dozens of potential investors in franchises in Europe. We have now given them access to our proposed business model, to our proposed structure, to our proposed game rules. There are still some things that need to be worked out. We are having meetings; we had several meetings with the potential investors to walk them through our vision. Those conversations have been very, very positive. No decision has been made yet; obviously, we are still answering questions, but we are getting good feedback. I feel very positive about those conversations and the momentum behind those conversations”.
To be exact, the NBA is waiting for answers from investors and clubs by the end of March, and starting the new league in 2027 “remains the goal,” and also, there will be a franchise fee, with “the market will determine what those fees are”.
It has to be noted that NBA Europe’s progress is in no way impacted by any conversations around the NBA domestic expansion to 32 franchises.
The general manager for Europe and the Middle East, Giorgos Aivazoglou who was present in the meeting added: “This is not a once-in-a-lifetime, it’s one-in-forever opportunity to become one of the founding franchises of the NBA Europe, and all the people who are engaged and are part of this process, team and investors alike, are seeing it in the same way. And that’s been the most encouraging point”.
The franchises of the new league will be connected not only with the FIBA ecosystem but also with the NBA, as Tatum repeated: “In the short term, we can see NBA teams going to Europe and playing against European NBA league teams in a pre-season tournament, or something like that. Over time, we can see potentially the NBA Europe league champions participating in the NBA Cup, as an example, and have more competitions like that”.
And last but not least, there was also a mention about the UK market, which remains a unicorn for European basketball. Despite efforts in the past 20 years, professional basketball is not yet mainstream in the UK, but Aivazoglou believes that this is about to change according to the demographics: “Basketball in the UK is doing extremely well; it’s the second most popular sport among kids at the age of 14, and the UK is among our biggest markets”.