A new club tournament with the participation of the NBA may appear in European basketball
The National Basketball Association (NBA), according to Sportico, is negotiating with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to create a new European league that will be able to compete with the Euroleague. How the new tournament will function and which specific teams will be able to take part in it is not known for certain. The option of holding an international competition with the participation of major teams from Europe and other regions of the world with the assistance of the NBA is also being considered. Sportico, citing sources familiar with the situation, writes that for now, interested parties are consulting with NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, who is on the FIBA Governing Council.
In addition, since February 2024, the NBA began working with the famous investment bank Raine Group (participated in transactions for the sale of Chelsea and Manchester United football clubs) to assess the opportunities of the European market. In negotiations with representatives of the Raine Group, the NBA wants to understand how to satisfy the growing interest of European viewers in American basketball without losing money. Neither the NBA nor the Raine Group agreed to share details of their plan with Sportico.
It is likely that the NBA will be guided by its African experience when making key decisions. In 2019, together with FIBA, the African Basketball League (BAL) was created, which replaced the African Basketball League (ABL), which had existed since 1971, as the main tournament of the continent. Simply put, the NBA contributed to the creation of an analogue of the Euroleague for Africa, where teams from Senegal, Mozambique, Guinea, Rwanda, Morocco, Tunisia, Cameroon, Egypt, South Sudan, Congo and South Africa participate. The competition is broadcast in the United States on NBA TV and ESPN+; a team of commentators and showrunners even travel to Africa for key matches and determine the concept of the show.
The league’s development has led to African basketball players playing an increasingly prominent role in the NBA. In addition, if previously NBA team scouts were, to put it mildly, sluggishly looking at the African market, now the situation has changed. The league has attracted the Nigerian consortium Yinka Folawiyo Group, whose managing director is local businessman Tunde Folawiyo (whose fortune Forbes estimates at $650 million), as its main partner on the continent . As Bloomberg reported , other investors together initially invested $75 million in NBA Africa, but this money did not bring the return that was expected. In particular, viewer interest still leaves much to be desired. To remedy this, the NBA wants to play 12 games in South Africa in March 2024.
From Europe, the NBA generates several hundred million dollars in revenue annually, according to Sportico. Mainly due to television broadcasts. League bosses believe that the amount could increase significantly if the new league acquires a decent pool of sponsors. In October 2023, the consulting company IEG published a report according to which the NBA’s income from sponsorship agreements for the 2022/23 season amounted to a record $1.66 billion. The greatest activity was shown by the soft drink manufacturer Coca-Cola, the automotive corporation Toyota, and the blockchain platform Socios.com and telecommunications company Verizon. Each of these sponsors has completed over 20 deals.
A May study from the consulting bureau SponsorUnited noted key factors in the NBA’s attractiveness to sponsors. One of the main ones is the desire of the league to develop outside of North America. During the 2022/23 season alone, the NBA opened 37 merchandise stores in 12 countries. Branded fan shops, in particular, have appeared in Paris, Berlin, Melbourne, Johannesburg, Abu Dhabi and Manila.
The NBA’s ambitions in Europe are further supported by the growing interest of basketball fans in the league’s players representing the European continent. In particular, to the French forward of the San Antonio Spurs Victor Vembanyama. Sportico reported that since Vembanyama’s departure overseas, NBA League Pass subscriptions (allowing you to watch all matches) in France grew by 26%, and the number of weekly viewers in the NBA app for the 2023-24 season grew by 68%. Selected with the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft (the second time for a European in NBA history), the 20-year-old prodigy scored 38 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots in the fifth game of his debut season. According to ESPN Stats & Inf, after the merger of the NBA and ABA (American Basketball Association. – Vedomosti.Sport) in 1976, not a single league rookie scored so much in one of his first five career games, including the legendary Michael Jordan.
At the start of the 2023-24 season, there were a total of 64 European players on NBA rosters. Among them are not only Vembanyama, but also such league stars as Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Nikola Jokic (Serbia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece).
