North American basketball's NBA is targeting a launch date of October 2027 for the new-look European league it has been working on with world governing body FIBA.
At a conference in Italy late last week, NBA Europe managing director George Aivazoglou unveiled the timeframe, adding that not all team slots in the planned 16-team league would be allocated by that point.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Aivazoglou said that within its planned 16-team league would be 12 permanent franchises, with target countries for those teams including the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Turkey.
No formal agreements with potential host cities or countries have been unveiled.
Aivazoglou added: "We're well underway in our approach and engagement with the market. We're having serious discussions with respect to investors."
The NBA and FIBA first announced plans for a new European league in March, and have since then brought in the JP Morgan Chase and Raine Group institutions as strategic advisors.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataCurrently, close to one in six NBA players is from Europe, including league icons such as Luka Dončić (Slovenia) and Victor Wembanyama (France).
The NBA is also sending out the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies to play games in Berlin and London early next year, in a sign of its efforts to increase its appeal and recognition in the European market.
The North American league announced a three-year slate of regular-season international fixtures in Europe that includes a return to the UK and Germany, as well as the continuation of its presence in France, in late July.
With the NBA having long seen the continent as a target future market, establishing an expanded presence in different markets is naturally part of the plan.
The league has also scheduled several international pre-season games in a variety of other global markets, with Puerto Rico, Abu Dhabi, and Macau all hosting fixtures in October.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke in September on the prospects of a new European league, saying: "Our lawyers are thinking hard about how we can take a system that's now known to US sports as … a cap-based system and a revenue sharing system with players and how we can apply that in a European framework. Nothing is easy here. There are reasons why this hasn't been done before. But I think we're up to it, and again, the response has been tremendous."
