{"id":275316,"date":"2025-11-10T11:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T11:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/275316\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T11:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T11:44:09","slug":"nba-looking-to-launch-european-league-in-late-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/275316\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA looking to launch European league in late 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Victor Wembanyama \u2013 pictured, left \u2013 is one of the most high-profile Europeans currently playing in the NBA. (Harry How\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

North American basketball’s NBA is targeting a launch date of October 2027 for the\u00a0new-look European league it has been working on with world governing body FIBA.<\/p>\n

At a conference in Italy late last week, NBA Europe managing director\u00a0George Aivazoglou unveiled the\u00a0timeframe, adding that not all team slots in the planned 16-team league would be allocated by that point.<\/p>\n

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Aivazoglou said that within its planned\u00a016-team league would be 12 permanent franchises, with target countries for those teams including the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Turkey.<\/p>\n

No formal agreements with potential host cities or countries have been unveiled.<\/p>\n

Aivazoglou added:\u00a0“We’re well underway in our approach and engagement with the market. We’re having serious discussions with respect to investors.”<\/p>\n

The NBA and FIBA first announced plans for a new European league in March, and have since then brought in the JP Morgan Chase and Raine Group institutions as strategic advisors.<\/p>\n

Currently, close to one in six NBA players is from Europe, including league icons such as\u00a0Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u00a0(Slovenia)\u00a0and Victor Wembanyama\u00a0(France).<\/p>\n

The NBA is also sending out the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies to play games in Berlin and London early next year, in a sign of its efforts to increase its appeal and recognition in the European market.<\/p>\n

The North American league announced a three-year slate of regular-season international fixtures in Europe that includes a return to the UK and Germany, as well as the continuation of its presence in France, in late July.<\/p>\n

With the NBA having long seen the continent\u00a0as a target future market, establishing an expanded presence in different markets\u00a0is naturally part of the plan.<\/p>\n

The league has also scheduled several international pre-season games in a variety of other global markets, with Puerto Rico, Abu Dhabi, and Macau all hosting fixtures in October.<\/p>\n

NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke in September on the prospects of a new European league, saying: “Our lawyers are thinking hard about how we can take a system that’s now known to US\u00a0sports as \u2026\u00a0a cap-based system and a revenue sharing system with players and how we can apply that in a European framework. Nothing is easy here. There are reasons why this hasn’t been done before. But I think we’re up to it, and again, the response has been tremendous.”<\/p>\n

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