With NBA Europe likely to be greenlit no later than January 2026, the CEO of the Euroleague said in a just-released Leaders In Sport podcast that \u201cwe don\u2019t need a new league\u201d and insinuated that if the two sides can\u2019t collaborate on a business approach, \u201cI\u2019m really afraid that we will harm the basketball in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking Tuesday on the \u201cLeaders Worth Knowing<\/a>\u201d podcast, Euroleague CEO Paulius Motiejunas said the NBA is \u201cfollowing the money solely,\u201d implying the American league has a commercial-first agenda that is the polar opposite of the Euroleague\u2019s basketball-first approach.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely appreciate the way that the NBA\u2019s running the business in the U.S. and how amazing they grow the product, whether it\u2019s the TV contract that they signed and there\u2019s many, many things,\u201d Motiejunas said. \u201cBut we need to understand it\u2019s Europe. And we have this know-how that we can sit down and share [with the NBA] \u2026 It is just a matter of goodwill and listening to each other.”<\/p>\n George Aivazoglou, the NBA Europe and Middle East managing director, said last month that \u2014 along with FIBA \u2014 the league continues to have \u201cgood-faith\u201d dialogue with the Euroleague, while NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum has disputed the notion that the venture is just money-driven.<\/p>\n \u201cJust to be clear, we think there is a commercial opportunity, but the reason that we\u2019re doing this is not primarily commercial,\u201d Tatum told international media on Oct. 21. \u201c\u2026We see an opportunity to continue to accelerate the growth of basketball across Europe and to serve fans that aren\u2019t currently being served today. <\/p>\n \u201cWe think, for example, if you look at the EuroLeague, or the top-tier league in Europe today, there are no franchises at all in the UK. There is no permanent franchise in Paris. There is no permanent franchise in Rome, in Berlin. So, these are some of the biggest markets in Europe that aren\u2019t being served with a top-tier basketball league. That is our focus, is to create, one, clarity in the ecosystem, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Motiejunas\u2019 main concern, then, is the likely disruption NBA Europe would cause to the Euroleague, considering four of its franchises \u2014 Real Madrid, Barcelona, Fenerbah\u00e7e and LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne \u2014 all have expiring contracts with the Euroleague after the 2025-26 season and could flee to NBA Europe for its launch in 2027. Motiejunas previously told the Wall Street Journal that two-thirds of EuroLeague teams are losing money, and Eurohoops has reported that Real Madrid is estimating a \u20ac38 million financial deficit this coming season, its biggest loss ever. <\/p>\n In addition, almost 90% of European basketball teams are ineligible to compete in the Euroleague, whereas every team could potentially qualify for NBA Europe \u2014 a development that could ultimately turn NBA Europe into the top-tiered league on the continent, supplanting Motiejunas\u2019 league. <\/p>\n For his part, Motiejunas said \u201cit\u2019s fair to say\u201d he has had no recent discussions with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver or Tatum, adding discussions between the two entities are \u201cnot as deep and not as far\u201d as he had wished.<\/p>\n It\u2019s conceivable, too, that Motiejunas is threatened that Euroleague\u2019s direct competitor, the FIBA-led Basketball Champions League, could potentially have one or two teams qualify for NBA Europe\u2013possibly pushing Euroleague even further down the region\u2019s basketball totem pole.<\/p>\n Either way, there is the sense the NBA will formalize its European venture in mid-January, likely while the Grizzles and Magic are playing against each other in Berlin (Jan. 15) and London (Jan. 18). Raine Group and JP Morgan is already taking NBA Europe to market<\/a>, with sources saying the NBA is pursuing franchise fees between $500M and $1B. That price tag has been characterized as steep to Euroleague teams.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been running the best league in Europe for 26 years,\u201d Motiejunas said on the podcast. \u201cWe need to protect the sport, we need to protect the clubs, we need to protect the fans. And I keep repeating that we don\u2019t need a new league.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With NBA Europe likely to be greenlit no later than January 2026, the CEO of the Euroleague said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-289928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}