The NBA and FIBA stated on Monday they’ll begin the method of participating with groups and homeowners about becoming a member of their deliberate new league in Europe subsequent month.
As has been anticipated, the league will provide each everlasting spots and “a merit-based pathway” to qualifying on an annual foundation by FIBA’s Basketball Champions League or an end-of-season event, the perimeters stated. Each staff in a FIBA-affiliated European league would have the prospect to qualify.
“The format of the league respects European sport mannequin ideas by providing any formidable membership on the continent a good pathway to the highest,” FIBA secretary normal Andreas Zagklis stated.
Many particulars for the brand new league are but to be formally finalised, together with when it’ll begin play — the working goal has been October 2027 — and what number of groups will participate in that inaugural season.
Among the many fashions that the NBA and FIBA have explored is a 16-team league, with 12 “everlasting” spots and the opposite 4 out there by qualifying.
The perimeters have been discussing a European league for a few years, and no scarcity of the NBA’s greatest stars proper now hail from that continent — corresponding to Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic, and Utah’s Lauri Markkanen. About one in six NBA gamers are from Europe.
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Efforts towards beginning the brand new league appeared to start intensifying across the time of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Earlier this yr, Zagklis and Silver sat side-by-side at a New York information convention to announce that the NBA and FIBA have been transferring ahead with the venture.
Issues have moved shortly since, with JPMorgan and the Raine Group being introduced on board this summer season to advise on sure monetary elements.
“Our conversations with numerous stakeholders in Europe have bolstered our perception that an infinite alternative exists across the creation of a brand new league on the continent,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated.
Present goal nations for the NBA-FIBA endeavor are recognized to incorporate Britain (with the potential host cities there being London and Manchester), France (Paris and Lyon), Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), Italy (Rome and Milan), Germany (Munich and Berlin), Greece (Athens), and Turkey (Istanbul).
The NBA has a pair of regular-season video games in Europe in mid-January, with the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic going to Berlin and London for contests.
Revealed on Dec 22, 2025