By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
With the NBA making moves to make the date of the 2027 tip-off for the NBA Europe project, an independent survey among basketball industry insiders presents an intrigued and also very cautious European ecosystem waiting for the new league plans to unfold.
The European basketball advisory board, a non-profit initiative that has produced in the past some very interesting reports and analyses, dating back almost a decade, conducted a survey about the NBA Europe project among a total of 89 individuals, “forming a focused and experience-rich sample drawn from across the basketball ecosystem. The group includes club executives and general managers (13), representatives of leagues and federations (8), coaches (6), as well as sporting directors/team managers (3). In addition, the survey includes basketball journalists (8) and agents or intermediaries (4). The remaining respondents represent a diverse set of roles within the broader basketball and sports industry, such as former professional players, academics, arena directors, referees, as well as senior executives from sporting goods and technology companies. This range of profiles ensures that insights reflect perspectives from operational, strategic, and analytical positions within the sport.”
Any person formally affiliated with the EuroLeague, FIBA, or the NBA was not included in the survey, and the findings are interesting and certainly not surprising for the insiders of the basketball industry in Europe.
As the survey notes, “There is interest in the idea of an NBA Europe–related model, but also visible hesitation and a strong desire to avoid structural disruption. Participants do not reject innovation, but they emphasize that any new development must strengthen, rather than override, the structural foundations of European basketball, particularly its identity, domestic leagues, and player pathways. The support that exists is conditional and depends heavily on how such a project would be implemented”.
Among the most interesting findings are the following
While there’s obviously a positive outlook towards the NBA Europe project, there’s also a lot of hesitation going forward. This is not surprising, considering that the financial details of the project are not yet on the table, and this brings us to the second point about the whole plan.
The financial incentives and equal revenue sharing are the most critical factors that will make or break the new project, followed by integration with domestic leagues, which remains unclear in the current European continental basketball ecosystem.
This fault has been attributed for years to the way the EuroLeague is structured and to the use of wildcards instead of qualification via domestic leagues.
On the other hand, however, the current ecosystem is really hesitant to change the outlook totally, and the majority of the survey respondents agree that the NBA Europe project must cooperate with the EuroLeague.
Eurohoops’ position is also the same, that cooperation is the only way for the sport to avoid a schism in Europe.
However, it has to be noted that after almost two years of talks between EuroLeague, FIBA, and the NBA, any kind of cooperation between all sides seems more and more difficult, even if, in theory, it is the only safe pathway to the future.
To get the full survey, click here.