The NBA lands in Europe: a farce or a historic opportunity?

BarcelonaEuropean basketball is experiencing one of the most important strategic moments in its history. The NBA is finalizing its arrival in the Old Continent with a new competition expected to launch in October 2027 with 16 teams (12 guaranteed spots and 4 awarded based on sporting merit). This move, which has many geopolitical implications, will reshape the current landscape, but it is still too early to know its true impact.

"The NBA's arrival is good for many reasons: financial, competitive, and for the players' health. The schedule will be reduced from 20 to 16 teams. Furthermore, clubs struggle to balance their books, and the NBA is the sports organization in the world with the greatest capacity to generate revenue. And we will create better salaries, more entertainment, more fun. The EuroLeague is a great competition, but something is clearly wrong when clubs are suffering so much financially and this ecosystem is operating at a 60% loss rate. This is not sustainable. The NBA is coming to solve this problem." The Country.

The EuroLeague, on the other hand, has an opposing view and is trying to highlight the work done over the past 26 years. "A new competition isn't necessary. If the NBA continues with its plan, it will only harm European basketball. We're better than ever. The EuroLeague has increased its revenue by 45% in the last two seasons. We have new sponsorships. Television viewership has risen by 30% in five years, and last season we had more than three million viewers. We're doing incredibly well. From a sporting perspective, expanding to 20 teams has been a huge step. Anyone can beat anyone; there are no undefeated teams."

If both parties do not reach an agreement, the risk of brittleness is very highThe example of the 2000-01 season, when two competitions, the EuroLeague and the Supro League, coexisted, does not inspire optimism. The case of golf, where players have been divided between those competing on traditional tours and those playing in the Saudi league, also suggests consequences that are difficult to predict.

The 12 cities that will have a team with a permanent spot in the European NBA are Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Milan, Rome, London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Berlin, Munich, Athens, and Istanbul. But Barça and Real Madrid have yet to comment. "With the Euroleague, the license expires in June 2026, and clubs that don't renew it lose their rights as founders. We've proposed renewing, but with the option of having freedom of movement if the NBA proposal goes through," Joan Laporta acknowledged in a discussion organized by... The Vanguard.

"The NBA has proposed a meeting to give us more details. At the moment, these meetings sound very promising, but we don't have a concrete proposal," Laporta warns. who on Friday witnessed live Barça's epic victory against Baskonia with three overtimesOne of the great challenges for the Catalan club is to build a new Palau Blaugrana, an objective that it will not be able to face until the reconstruction of the Camp Nou is finished.

January, key date

"I believe that by the end of January we'll be in a position to have more serious discussions with stakeholders," says NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. He acknowledges that much work remains to be done. "At the league office, we're still working on the economic model; we want to ensure the entire project makes sense. As I've mentioned before, many of the cities we'd like to be in don't have sufficient arena infrastructure. Therefore, we'll need to work on securing private investment, perhaps also collaborating with these municipalities. We've made significant progress."

The leading coaches in European basketball have come out in favor of the current EuroLeague model and are skeptical of the NBA's enticing offers. "Our position has always been to act together. The EuroLeague is a competition with an extremely high level of basketball; I would say superior to the NBA in terms of quality, at least during the regular seasons. For its part, the NBA has enormous commercial power. The NBA could create a ridiculous situation in European basketball, similar to the SuproLeague. That's why I think they should act intelligently and maintain their support for the brand that has built the EuroLeague."

"If the NBA comes in and disrupts the existing ecosystem, it won't be good. If it comes in a collaborative way, even better. I hope an agreement can be reached so that the players and teams are the best and the fans have a good time. The NBA is a show, and here in Europe we understand sports differently," Àlex summarizes.