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Photo by Alexis Reau/USA TODAY Sports
In recent years, the NBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and EuroLeague have been discussing how to work together to grow the game of basketball in Europe at a time when the continent’s star power in the NBA is greater than ever. I’ve been doing it.
Those talks are ongoing, but for the first time, the NBA is considering a variety of more ambitious options that could potentially exclude EuroLeague. That would include a new standalone NBA Europa League, according to people familiar with the NBA’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly.
The league has been approached by interested parties about several ways to expand its European operations outside of the EuroLeague partnership. The new facility will be launched in cooperation with FIBA. FIBA has a long relationship with the NBA, with NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum serving on its central committee.
Last month, the NBA hired specialty investment bank Reign Group to evaluate the NBA’s opportunities in Europe. The goal is to bridge the gap between the massive interest of basketball fans and the current scale of business in Europe.
Both the NBA and Laine declined to comment on the plans.
Previous discussions between the NBA and EuroLeague have been about ways to assist EuroLeague, and one possibility is to use the NBA’s Team Marketing and Business Operations Department (TMBO). Another would be to sell a partnership to EuroLeague, much like the NBA does with USA Basketball.
The new proposal includes a league run by the NBA and FIBA, and builds on the NBA’s work in Africa with the Basketball Africa League (BAL), which will launch in 2021 and This weekend marks the opening of the fourth season.
NBA Africa is leveraging strategic investments including a consortium led by Yinka Folawiyo Group chairman Tunde Folawiyo and Helios Fairfax Partners led by co-CEO Tope Lawani for the NBA’s first solo league outside of North America. welcomed home. The new NBA Europa League will almost certainly involve strategic investors with ties to the region.
Intercontinental competitions, such as FIBA’s existing Intercontinental Cup, involving well-known teams from Europe and other parts of the world, are also being considered.
These conversations are in the preliminary stages, and the format and location have not yet been determined, but the final outcome could establish a model for other parts of the globe.
The NBA currently makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year in Europe, and the average team is worth $4 billion, compared to the NBA’s overall business of $13 billion. In Europe, the number of NBA broadcasts that air in prime time is limited by time zone, with only about 40 weekend games a year airing in prime time. One of the reasons behind BAL was to increase primetime viewing for African fans.
The NBA believes the European and Middle East basketball ecosystem could reach $3 billion in annual revenue, based on Laine’s projections.
The NBA hasn’t shied away from its global ambitions, hosting more than 200 games outside of the United States and Canada, most recently in Paris in January, but its current stars are pushing European basketball business further. I feel dissatisfied with the lack of expansion. Power in the league.
The NBA has hired Djamel Aghouah, who most recently served as chief operating officer of Paris-based media company Brut, as the NBA’s new managing director of Europe and the Middle East. Aghoua’s appointment was not previously announced, but his entrepreneurial background suggests the NBA has bigger ambitions in Europe.
The NBA set a record this season with 64 European players on its opening roster. Among them are star players Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and Domantas Sabonis, who is the third most viewed player on social media this season after LeBron James and Stephen Curry. They include Victor Wembaneyama, the 4-inch French rising sensation.
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