The NBA plans to finalize franchise fees in the coming months with a goal of launching NBA Europe “within the next couple of years,” league deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum said Tuesday.
Speaking to international media, Tatum said: “Yes, our goal is to launch the game in the next two years. Obviously, it depends on the approval of the NBA board of directors and FIBA.”
According to the Sports Business Journal, the NBA is considering a franchise fee of between $500 million and $1 billion and has hired JP Morgan and The Raine Group to “refine” the business plan.
“In the near and immediate future, we are going to begin meaningfully engaging with potential investors in the league,” Tatum said Tuesday, according to TalkSport.com. “We’re kind of taking the next step. And I think over the next eight weeks we’ll have a really good idea of where we are in terms of the level of interest.”
The SBJ reported that while it seems unlikely, the NBA could pull out of the project if it doesn’t get the market value it believes is warranted. Meanwhile, the business model includes determining potential team locations.
“We think this league will include a combination of existing clubs, potential new clubs that don’t exist today, and maybe there will be soccer clubs that don’t have a basketball team but want to invest in a basketball team,” Tatum said.
“In the first phase, our initial plan is to go to 10 to 12 cities. Mainly (the) UK, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, maybe Turkey, maybe Greece for franchises.”
Tatum said the NBA would run the “top tier” league.
“Our plan would be for the FIBA Basketball Champions League to be the second-tier division,” he said. “And then, when this league launches, there will be four open spots that teams from across the continent will qualify for on an annual basis through a transparent merit-based process, either by winning their respective national leagues and then competing in the Basketball Champions League, or by creating a grand national champions play-in tournament.
“Over time, you might see things like seeing the winners or top two from the European League enter the NBA Cup and be injected into the NBA Cup.
“And then, eventually, once the supersonic journey happens, you could see an NBA division in Europe.”
London will host its 10th NBA regular season game when the Memphis Grizzlies take on the Orlando Magic on January 18, 2026. The league is scheduled to play games in Manchester, England and Paris in 2027, as well as Berlin and Paris in 2028.
“There are no top teams in the UK,” Tatum said, according to TalkSport.com. “We believe that this must be the case, because we know that the demand, the number of fans in the UK and the size of the market, requires us to cater to those fans.”
–Field level media
