NBA fans, do you remember Adam Silver’s plan to expand the NBA into Europe? Sounded like a pipe dream, no? Well, it seems this dream is a step closer to fruition after an extremely wealthy group showed interest in this endeavor. 

The NBA and Adam Silver will reportedly announce a multi-year in deal conjunction with the City Football Group. This deal will see regular season NBA games being played at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester. The City Football Group, the executives behind the soccer juggernaut, Manchester City, owns the stadium. It’s valued at a whopping $458 million, thanks to the funding from Middle Eastern owners.

NBA Europe inches closer to becoming a reality with this move. This deal will also pave the way to explore partnerships with Middle Eastern oil states. The relationship between the NBA and these states has grown over the past few years. We’ve seen the league host pre-season friendlies in Abu Dhabi since 2022.

Moreover, the Qatar Investment Authority also purchased a 5% share in the Washington Wizards. In doing so, they became the first sovereign wealth fund to buy a share in an NBA team. However, the league prohibits foreign ownership shares that exceed 20%. The proposed league in Europe would have no such restrictions and could lead to the sport growing massively.

The NBA believes that basketball has the potential to be much bigger in Europe than it is currently. “While Europe continues to develop some of the very best players in the world, we think that the commercial opportunity has not kept pace with the growth of the game,” said Adam Silver when the NBA visited Paris for their Global Games Initiative.

But how would NBA Europe work? It’s not like the NBA can ship players from America to play in their league overseas. So let’s see what Adam Silver is reportedly planning for this mega expansion.

Adam Silver vows to create “substantial competition” in Europe

As it stands, NBA Europe remains in its planning stage. However, it won’t take too much planning given how popular basketball is globally. Reports state that NBA Europe may launch as early as 2026-27. Silver and Co. plans to focus on countries with strong economies that don’t have competitive domestic basketball leagues. The countries most touted to be in their plans are the UK, Germany, and France.

Within these countries, Paris, London, Manchester, and Berlin are the key cities being targeted by the NBA for setting up franchises. A possibility that they’re exploring is to partner up with existing clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain to establish NBA Europe franchises. You may say they’re just copying the existing model used by European giants like Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Olympiacos. But what was the saying again? If it isn’t broken…

“Everything is still on the table. The potential to include existing clubs, absolutely, should there be interest. The opportunity to create sustainable competition, yes,” said Adam Silver. What he means is that even though NBA Europe will compete directly with the EuroLeague, existing clubs will have every opportunity to join the NBA if they so choose.

The only possible hindrance to this expansion is the board of Governors. Given the G-League hemorrhages money, and the WNBA is only now showing signs of possibility (30 years after its establishment), it’s possible that the board may not be on board with this expansion. However, the prospect of capturing the European market is a tantalizing one and we don’t see shrewd businessmen giving up the opportunity because they’re afraid of the league.

Moreover, we have to consider that the league has globalized significantly over the years, so interest in high-level professional basketball outside the US has never been higher.

The NBA currently has 125 international players, with most of them coming from Europe. And there’s a rich history of European players coming into the NBA and leaving it as fan favorites. You’ve heard of Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginóbili, and a few other choice names, right?

Considering all this, we believe a league in Europe has been long overdue. And if Adam Silver realizes his vision, we may only have to wait another year!