It's Sportico who announces it : the NBA has launched studies on the creation of a European league, hiring the investment bank Raine Group to explore the market and the possibilities of such a project.
We won't get carried away because the rumor of a European league, or a European division, of the NBA has been coming up from time to time for thirty years now, without ever coming to fruition. But with the experience of the BAL (Basketball Africa League), Adam Silver has a model to rely on if he wants to launch a competition in Europe.
This project would be developed with FIBA, but in parallel with the Euroleague, which in fact has no real interest in placing itself under the patronage of the NBA, even if the entities have been discussing for years.
For the moment, the project therefore remains very vague, and Sportico confirms that the discussions are only just beginning.
But while Dubai is expected to enter the Euroleague, the economic potential of a league that would bring together the market of Europe and the Middle East is enough to attract the attention of the NBA. According to Raine Group projections, this potentially generates annual revenues of three billion dollars.
Still according to Sportico, the Europe and Middle East division of the NBA has just hired a new general director, Djamel Agaoua, a French business leader and entrepreneur who notably worked for Viber and who had joined the general management of Brut two years ago . He will succeed Ralph Rivera, in office since 2018.
