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Silver said the level of interest has exceeded expectations, with several cities stepping forward even without being invited to bid. “In terms of NBA Europe, yes, things are where I hoped they would be. Mark Tatum is here, who is overseeing the process. We’ve had tremendous interest from multiple cities in Europe, including cities that we didn’t even ask for bids from.” The commissioner added that the NBA is currently finalizing bids for an initial group of cities and noted that many European bidders will be in New York for Sunday’s World Cup final. “We discussed with our board today that we’re in the process of finalizing those bids, I think for an initial group of cities. Many of the people who are involved in those bids, the European bidders, are actually going to be in New York for the World Cup final on Sunday.”
Mike Vorkunov: NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said the NBA has landed on clear frontrunners in 12 cities for NBA Europe after it received final bids for the league's launch. That list of includes "existing basketball and football clubs." The NBA now will shift to finalizing agreements.
The latest bids for NBA Europe franchises were due Monday, and they came in at $500 million or higher in each of the 12 target cities, with multiple bids of more than $1 billion. Bids were made by more than 20 existing basketball and soccer clubs, including current EuroLeague teams, according to someone familiar with the details.
For those first dozen teams, the group is speaking with bidders in Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Berlin; Istanbul; London; Lyon, France; Madrid, Spain; Manchester, England; Milan; Munich; Paris; and Rome. “We’re extremely encouraged by the final bids we received for permanent franchises,” Mark Tatum, NBA deputy commissioner, said in a statement. “This will be the biggest influx of capital European basketball has ever seen, and we have clear front-runners in each of our 12 target cities, including many existing basketball and football clubs. We will now work with the NBA and FIBA Boards to finalize the long-form agreements.”
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said that NBA Europe “plans to begin naming winning bidders for 12 permanent European teams in the next 60 to 90 days,” according to Alex Sherman of CNBC.com. He added that the league remains “on track to debut in October 2027.” The 12 new teams will be located in Rome, Milan, London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Athens and Istanbul.
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Tatum said that the league is “looking for ‘great operators’ who will invest in new stadiums,” adding that there are “only ‘two to three world-class’ basketball arenas in all of Europe.” The NBA is “considering how to intermingle NBA Europe teams with its existing North American teams.” In the short term, Tatum said that NBA Europe teams “could play teams based in the U.S. and Canada in the preseason.” Then, over time, teams across the two leagues “could meet up in the Emirates NBA Cup.”
Q. Do you see an agreement between the NBA and the Euroleague possible for the creation of a new unified tournament? George Aivazoglou: I would say I see it the same way I have seen it for a while. The NBA has been very consistent that it wants to get involved with the Euroleague, and with all the European players, and bring them together as part of this new effort. I would say that the last few months have been very encouraging, with my good friend Chus Bueno. We have been in contact very often. We were together a few days ago in Geneva, and there is a very positive and very healthy exchange. From there, I would say, and Adam Silver and Mark Tatum also mentioned this, the NBA's decision is to move forward with this tournament with or without the Euroleague. But right now, there is a lot of focus, a lot of intention and energy going into those discussions, which will hopefully lead to a very positive outcome. But we still have a lot of work to do, that's the honest answer.
The NBA, the San Antonio Spurs and Emirates are hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday to officially unveil refurbished spaces at the Denver Heights Community Center. As a part of its NBA Cares Finals Legacy Project presented by Emirates, the community center’s revamped gym, multipurpose room and “upgraded gaming equipment for youth and families” will be on display for use for the first time.
Among the attendees for the ceremony will be: · NBA Commissioner Adam Silver · NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum · Spurs Sports & Entertainment CEO RC Buford · Spurs players Harrison Barnes, Lindy Waters III, Mason Plumlee, Bismack Biyombo and David Jones Garcia
NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum provided another update on the NBA Europe project, confirming the league's target launch timeline. According to Tatum, NBA Europe is expected to begin in October 2027. He also said the NBA is prepared to move forward with the project alongside FIBA and its partners if an agreement with EuroLeague is not reached, though discussions between the two sides remain ongoing. "We are building a system that will benefit the European clubs starting from October 2027," Tatum said, via Aris Barkas. "At the end of the month, the bids will be finalized, and after that, we will go through our process. There's no specific timeline for announcements; we have to finalize our negotiations with the clubs for a tipoff in October 2027," he added.
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A former NBA employee, Chus Bueno, is continuing the talks with the NBA about their European project, which may or may not include the EuroLeague. And the EuroLeague, on its side, may work or may not work with the NBA. “We had breakfast yesterday with George Aivazoglou”, said Bueno, and admitted that everything is on the table: “We are open to exploring, but this doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. There’s no time pressure for us or the NBA, but there’s a matter of momentum. Adam Silver said it, Mark Tatum said it, fragmentation is losing value. It would be better to maximise the opportunity together with the NBA”. So the issue here is to have the proper understanding and a model that would work, as Bueno explained: “You can get a good deal in life, but it’s another thing to do a good project. It’s part of the process to understand each other. Everything is on the table; it’s too soon”.
The period for gauging interest from potential investors, who submitted letters of interest rather than formal offers, ended on April 1st. The NBA's assessment at the time was extremely positive. “We have received significant interest from various teams and potential investors in acquiring permanent franchise slots in a new European league backed by the NBA and FIBA. The level of participation and the size of the offers reflect the market's confidence in our proposed model and the enormous untapped potential of European basketball,” said Mark Tatum, assistant to Commissioner Adam Silver. The NBA did not officially release figures, but sources well-connected to the American league spoke of more than 120 interested investors, including about 20 existing soccer and basketball teams (including some from the EuroLeague), as well as investment groups and individual millionaires. According to these sources, the NBA received several offers between $500 million and $1 billion, and even one exceeding $1 billion.
Marc Stein: The NBA, I'm told, continues to target 2027-28 as the planned inaugural season for launching NBA Europe. Commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum have made it clear they hope to collaborate with the EuroLeague rather than compete against it and the NBA has announced that it held talks today with EuroLeague representatives at FIBA headquarters in Switzerland. It's believed that more than 20 existing European basketball and football clubs, including teams currently in the EuroLeague, have lodged bids for NBA Europe franchises.
Chus Bueno: Regarding the ecosystem, you have probably seen during last weeks, that the National Basketball Association (NBA), is raising the capital to come to Europe, supported by FIBA, and how we all said we are all open to explore a partnership together. Too soon to see if it’s possible and how to do that, we all know it is not easy, and we (basketball stakeholders) have not been able to do it so far. But I believe we can all agree that fragmentation dilutes value, and creates friction (not only among institutions, also within the media landscape, the market penetration, sponsorship, or even the friction within our fanbase supporting one league or concept vs another etc) and this is why I said that if the National Basketball Association (NBA) raises the capital and decides to come and invest time and resources in Europe, we (Euroleague and its clubs) should be open to discuss how we can grow the game and business together so we all benefit.