NBA: Why are the NBA courting Man City and Real Madrid?
The NBA is planning to launch an independent European league under the working title of NBA Europe.
Talks remain ongoing, but plans lead towards it starting as a league of 12-16 teams that could include a merit-based qualification system as well as promotion and relegation.
London, Manchester, Paris and Berlin are expected to have teams in NBA Europe.
The league is expected to consist of existing teams, new sides and football clubs that currently do not have associated basketball teams.
Talks are in preliminary stages, but there is optimism around the plans and, under the NBA’s running, they have the potential to transform European basketball’s landscape.
London is being tipped to be among the key cities for the NBA’s European hopes, despite its lack of basketball presence.
It is unlikely that London will be a franchise that is part of a football team, with the city earmarked to become a model city to be emulated at other NBA Europe locations.
This is also in part because of London’s global appeal to US audiences, and infrastructure that includes the O2 and a reported new indoor arena in the process of being built.
“We know that here in London in particular, in many ways we think this market is tastemakers for much of Europe,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
“The last I looked, I think the O2 is the leading arena throughout Europe and, from a revenue standpoint, exceeds most arenas around the United States.
“Culturally, all the top acts come through there. There is this New York-London connection from a fashion and music standpoint.”
An increasing number of international players in the NBA, a growing viewership in the league across Europe, and the fact that five of the NBA’s past seven Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards have been won by Europeans point towards a prime opportunity for the NBA to capitalise.
The NBA has worked on European plans in collaboration with the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), the sport’s international governing body.
As well as Silver describing interest from potential investors and sponsors as “significant”, current and former players have been showing their support for a European NBA league.
“The NBA has been such a successful brand and they have talked about expansion for 20 years ever since I was in the league, so I’m excited that this next step is finally here,” Dirk Nowitzki, the first European to win the MVP award, told BBC Sport.
“If the NBA normally does something, they do it right. Hopefully it is going to be good for European basketball and exciting.”