The 13 shareholder clubs of the EuroLeague have rejected the NBAs offer to merge into a single European competition. Meeting in Cernobbio, Italy, on October 6, the owners called the proposal unacceptable in its current form. Two days later, the NBA and FIBA said in a joint statement that they remain committed to moving forward with a new professional mens league in Europe.
The NBA plan, developed with FIBA, envisages a 16-team league launching in 2027, with 12 permanent franchises in London, Manchester, Berlin, Munich, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Lyon, Milan, Rome, Athens and Istanbul, and four places open to qualifiers. LEquipe reported that the NBA offered each future member €400 million, while media reports put the entry fee sought from new owners at a minimum of $500 million. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the offer covered only the current 13 shareholders. Barcelona said the clubs would reconsider an amended proposal. At the same meeting, the EuroLeague confirmed it will convert its 10-year licences into permanent franchises for shareholder clubs and expand from 20 to 24 teams from 2027-28.
The rejection is a negotiation over equity. EuroLeague clubs are being asked to give up control of a competition they own in exchange for a guaranteed position in a league whose economics would be set by the NBA. By turning licences into franchises and adding teams before an agreement, the shareholders are turning their places into assets they can value and sell, increasing what the NBA would have to pay to absorb them. The NBA, for its part, has shown it does not need EuroLeague consent: six of its 12 target cities already host EuroLeague clubs, and investors have shown interest at franchise prices of $500 million and above. The two sides are now competing to sell basketball franchise rights in the same European cities.
The downstream effects reach beyond basketball. Football clubs with basketball divisions, including Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, will have to choose between a competition they co-own and a franchise system with NBA distribution and US capital, while broadcasters and sponsors weighing European basketball rights face uncertainty over which product will exist in 2027. A split would put two premium competitions in the same markets, the scenario that has repeatedly reduced the value of European club sport. Commentators have also warned of a financial and legal fight in the European market if no agreement is reached, an issue regulators will watch closely given FIBAs dual role as governing body and partner of the NBA. For investors drawn to NBA Europes franchise valuations, the governance risk has now been made explicit.
