Basketball-Euroleague shareholders reject NBA Europe offer, door open for future talks

By Elvira Pollina

CERNOBBIO, Italy, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Euroleague shareholder clubs rejected a collaboration offer from the NBA on Tuesday, according to sources familiar with the discussions, raising the prospect of a battle for the continent's biggest teams, players and commercial riches.

The door on a deal has yet to be closed though.

The Euroleague said in a statement that its 13 shareholder clubs had agreed to convert into franchises, a change that would turn their current licences into a more lasting stake in the league. The clubs did not, however, take a formal decision on expanding the competition from 20 to 24 teams.

Regarding Euroleague's expansion plan, a person attending the meeting told Reuters the decision on allocating additional long-term licences would be taken within the next month.

The source said the Euroleague was keen to move ahead with expansion and attention will now be on whether the NBA submits a fresh proposal before those calls are made.

Up to eight additional long-term licences could be awarded. The remaining places would be filled through a combination of short-term licences, wildcards and sporting qualification through the BKT EuroCup.

A senior sports executive told Reuters any collaboration between Euroleague and the NBA was unlikely before 2028 because of the difficulty of organising a new competition in time for the 2027-28 season.

Representatives of the 13 permanent shareholder clubs met near Lake Como to discuss the expansion plan, with the prospect of an agreement with the NBA dominating discussions around the future of European basketball.

The Euroleague did not mention the widely reported NBA offer in its statement, but told Reuters last Friday it remained open to collaboration. Although the clubs rejected the current proposal, talks with the NBA could continue.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the details of the NBA's offer but media reports said it would have seen the NBA's continental expansion project merge with Euroleague.

The NBA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. NBA Europe's managing director, George Aivazoglou, is due to speak at a conference in London on Thursday.

The rejection is a significant setback to attempts to unite Europe’s established elite basketball competition with the financial and commercial power of the NBA, which plans to launch a 16-team NBA Europe league in 2027.

SURGE OF INTEREST

The NBA has stepped up its push into Europe amid a surge of interest in the sport, with Euroleague reporting in May an 82% increase in TV viewership through the first 25 regular-season rounds of the 2025-26 campaign.

The NBA has also enjoyed growing momentum on the continent. Streaming deals with providers like Amazon Prime have boosted audiences for the NBA in Europe, while regular-season games in Berlin and London this year highlighted the league's growing appeal.

Viewership of January's clash between Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies in London was up 90% compared to the last NBA game there in 2019.

A report from JB Capital commissioned by the Euroleague values the competition at €1.41 billion ($1.59 billion), while the aggregate value of its licensed teams was put at approximately €1.8 billion.

Those figures pale in comparison to the NBA.

The NBA recently surpassed Major League Baseball to become the world's second-richest sports league, according to Sports Value, a marketing and valuation agency, with upwards of $14 billion in revenue during the 2025-26 season.

The NBA and Euroleague have said throughout this year that they would like to work together on a new competition, but each has also made clear it is prepared to pursue its own plans if no agreement is reached.

No deadline has been set for a deal, although the sides have indicated they want greater clarity by the end of the season.

($1 = 0.8883 euros)

(Additional reporting by Amy Tennery and Ruairidh Barlow, editing by Ed Osmond, Ken Ferris and Toby Davis)