A Spanish think tank has put the NBA’s planned European league under the microscope, and its verdict is that the project is a gamble for European basketball, not just a business deal.
The paper, published on May 13 by Instituto Coordenadas, is titled “Sport as a Strategic Asset of the European Union: Lessons from the NBA Europe Case.” The institute describes itself as a research body focused on governance and applied economics. Its authors list what was publicly known about the project: club entry fees between €500 million and €1 billion, strategic control moving outside Europe, roughly 50 percent of operating profits going to the NBA and its owners, and a semi-closed format with reserved spots.
Some of that is already out of date, Eurohoops noted. Neither the NBA nor its owners will take distributions while the league ramps up, a stretch expected to last years, and participating teams will have guaranteed revenues. The NBA and FIBA would initially own 52 percent of the new structure, but the teams would eventually hold a majority stake as the league expands.
The competitive questions
The paper’s other points still stand. The NBA has said NBA Europe would be built around the best players available after the roughly 450 already in the NBA, which the authors read as a developmental platform and not a final destination for top talent. A strict salary cap would add to that perception.
The EuroLeague, with its established clubs, historic cities and loyal fan bases, “would not appear to start from a clear competitive disadvantage,” the paper says. It warns that a league pitched as premium but seen as second-tier would face “direct tension” with its television and commercial plans.
History is not encouraging, in the authors’ view. The Basketball Africa League, the G League and the WNBA all needed long periods of investment, and in the closest comparison, NFL Europe, the project eventually shut down.
Their conclusion: “The decisive question is not whether the project can be launched, but what would happen if it fails.” In that case, the paper says, the economic, sporting and institutional costs would fall mainly on European basketball and on the European sports model itself.
Both NBA commissioner Adam Silver and EuroLeague CEO Chus Bueno have said the best outcome is honest collaboration among everyone involved. FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis named the same goal at his end-of-year press conference last December.
