European players are dominating the NBA and the league wants a piece of the action, by creating it’s own league in Europe in order to grow the game.
“…for the first time, the NBA is considering a variety of more ambitious options that could exclude the EuroLeague. One of those would include a new standalone NBA Europe league, according to multiple people familiar with the NBA’s thinking who were not authorized to speak publicly,” Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico reports.
“The league has been approached by stakeholders on several ways to expand the European business outside of a EuroLeague partnership. Any new property would be launched in cooperation with FIBA, which has a long relationship with the NBA and on whose central board NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum sits.”
The NBA certainly needs to make themselves a part of other leagues, if they want to make more money – which seems to be the ultimate driver of the expansion.
“New proposals include an NBA and FIBA-operated league, drawing on what the NBA has done in Africa with the Basketball Africa League (BAL), which launched in 2021 and tipped off its fourth season this weekend,” Badenhausen said.
“…The NBA thinks that the basketball ecosystem in Europe and Middle East could be worth as much as $3 billion in annual revenue, based on Raine’s [a consultant brought in] projections.”
The European influence in the NBA is becoming clear and the NBA’s attempt at making the game more like other European sports was clear when they introduced the Play-In Tournament this season.
Many fans suggested they should have taken the tournament a step further by letting G-League teams compete, similar to what the Champion’s League soccer competition does.
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