NBA’s European show dazzles on and off court but new league is no slam dunk
No one disputes that NBA Europe represents a big opportunity but the lack of detail around 18 months from launch is tempering excitement.
The mascots for the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic descended from the O2’s ceiling, celebrities dotted the courtside seats, and the NBA reported a sell-out for its first game in London for seven years on Sunday.
It will also be the last one before a permanent London franchise makes its debut in NBA Europe, if the US basketball behemoth launches a proposed pan-continental league as planned next year.
The NBA and its commissioner Adam Silver are rightly regarded as being at the cutting edge of the sport industry; known for making very deliberate – and largely successful – strategic steps and delivering shows with an enviable level of professionalism and expertise.
What’s different about its planned European expansion, then, is the current lack of concrete details around many of the key elements of the competition.
We know, via noncommittal statements, that the plan being worked on by the NBA in partnership with Fiba is to launch in 2027 with 16 teams – 12 permanent, plus four annual qualifiers.
Cities identified for new franchises include London, Manchester, Paris and Milan. They would go up against established teams from Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Munich and eastern Europe.
But beyond that, and little more than 18 months until NBA Europe is slated to launch, nothing is certain – most notably which of the various serial sports team owners and institutional investors will bite at the rumoured $500m-$1bn entry price.
Speaking on Saturday before the game at the O2, NBA boss Adam Silver said they hadn’t yet decided which sources of capital they would permit, amid discussion about sovereign wealth and private equity.
NBA partners wooed at London showcase
We now know that RedBird Capital Partners is keen to buy a franchise, likely tied to its ownership of AC Milan in Italian football, while it is well established that various private equity firms held talks with the NBA and its advisors, JPMorgan and the Raine Group, last year.
Of European basketball’s existing teams, Barcelona have indicated they will sign a new 10-year deal with EuroLeague, in what would be a setback to NBA Europe. The NBA, however, is said to be relaxed given that EuroLeague clubs can break their contracts by paying a €10m penalty.
There are also, perhaps understandably, no confirmed sponsors or broadcasters. To that end the NBA held an event at Raffles Hotel in London yesterday to woo possible foundational commercial and media partners.
This lack of clarity is in part because the NBA’s powerbrokers – the US teams who co-own the league – have yet to officially green-light the ambitious move. All being well, that confirmation is expected to come in March.
The seat-of-the-pants approach has raised eyebrows among some in the industry, with one US sports insider telling City PM at the weekend: “For a company that is renowned for marketing prowess, this launch has been wildly unimpressive and uninspiring.”
Another industry observer who attended yesterday’s showcase, which featured a miniature basketball court as the stage, called it “a good illustration of the power of the NBA” but said that few additional details were forthcoming.
No one questions the opportunity around basketball in Europe, which NBA bosses are billing as the single biggest in world sport. Effectively monetising the latent interest in the game has been a challenge thus far, but if anyone has the chops it is surely the NBA.
Silver is widely admired and this project, however hurried it may feel, has been decades in the making. In trying to take the European market, he is asking for a leap of faith from investors and, ultimately, fans. Whether that leap ends in a slam dunk remains to be seen.