After their stock club, the owners convened the Euroleague in Italy on Tuesday published a press release share updates from this meeting. According to the announcement, the club owners present have agreed to convert 13 current shareholders into permanent franchises and continue the process of expanding Europe’s top basketball league from 20 to 24 teams in the 2027/28 season.
The statement did not mention the NBA recent proposal to merge the Euroleague with the new NBA European League, but according to Aris Barkas of EurohoopsEuroleague shareholders decided to reject this offer.
This does not mean that the Euroleague completely closes the door to cooperation with the NBA. Its shareholders remain open to further discussions, despite the rejection of the NBA’s initial offer, Barkas notes. Joe Vardon of The Athletic it confirms.
“Several clubs are opposed to NBA Europe, but most clubs (simply) didn’t like the offer,” one European team manager told The Athletic.
While details of the NBA’s offer to the EuroLeague are scarce, Vardon notes that Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the offer would be contingent on the EuroLeague maintaining its current structure and not expanding.
As Vardon, NBA commissioner, writes Adam Silver and his staff insisted that NBA Europe’s plans will move forward with or without EuroLeague cooperation, with a tentative launch scheduled for fall 2027. However, one source from the team expected to be part of NBA Europe told The Athletic that the October 27, 2017 launch would be “impossible” without the EuroLeague merger.
With the NBA looking to create a 16-team European league with 12 permanent members, the cities most often mentioned as targets are Paris, London, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul, Milan, Munich, Berlin, Lyon and Manchester. However, a source familiar with the NBA’s thinking tells Vardon that the 12 cities are not necessarily locks for European NBA teams, as there have been bids for cities in other markets as well.
Vardon adds that at least six EuroLeague teams are considering a move to NBA Europe.