NBA to Name Winning Bidders for 12 European Teams Within 90 Days

Richard Janvrin
By: Richard Janvrin
Industry
NBA to Name Winning Bidders for 12 European Teams Within 90 Days

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Key Takeaways

  • The NBA expects to select partners for European teams within months
  • Twelve permanent franchises are planned across major cities throughout Europe
  • League officials believe European basketball remains significantly undercommercialized

According to CNBC, NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum has announced a development regarding European basketball. 

Tatum has revealed that the NBA plans to begin naming winning bidders for 12 permanent European-based teams over the next 60 to 90 days. 

The league is set to debut in October 2027 and is on track  

These are the locations for the 12 teams: Rome, Milan, London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Athens, and Istanbul. Along with the teams, there will be four rotating clubs available " to any FIBA-affiliated team in Europe on an annual basis depending on performance." 

As CNBC points out, FIBA is basketball's international governing body in Europe. 

As of Decemeber 2025, the NBA is also targeting expansion into Las Vegas for the 2026-27 season.

NBA Seeks Investors and Arena Development

The bids for the teams are due at the end of June. As for what they're looking for, they're looking for "great operators" that will invest in new stadiums. Tatum said there are only two or three world-class basketball arenas in Europe. 

“We’re on a very, very quick timeline here,” Tatum said. “We’re going to identify the right partners in the right cities, and we’re going to take as much time as we need in order to identify those right partners. We’re talking not only existing basketball teams in the ecosystem, but we’re talking to soccer teams that currently don’t have basketball teams that are interested, and we’re also talking to individuals and other entities who don’t have a basketball team but want to invest in a basketball team.”

Tatum said that, in Europe, basketball is the second-most popular sport but gets “less than 1% of the commercial market share there" and estimated there are about 300 million basketball fans. 

League Exploring Media and Global Competition Opportunities

The NBA, per CNBC, is also considering ways to bring NBA Europe and the North American teams together, but in the short term, these matchups will likely be limited to the preseason and, over time, to play in the Emirates NBA Cup. 

Tatum said they've also had conversations with “some of the big global streaming partners” for NBA Europe. 

“There has been an incredible amount of inbound interest on taking those games and distributing them not only throughout Europe but globally,” Tatum said. “We have no doubt that it will create some global interest, and therefore media partners are very interested in carrying that content.”

NBA Also Promoting Growth of Basketball Africa League

Tatum is also starting to pitch investors on the NBA's Basketball Africa League. It's been up and running for six years, but is now selling teams to investors. 

“Eleven of the top 20 fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa, and Africa is expected to account for more than 40% of the world’s youth in the next five years,” Tatum said. “So, what I would say to those investors is, ‘What a great market opportunity.’ Basketball is now turning into a business and creating jobs and economic growth, and now it’s the opportunity to get in at the ground level and take advantage of that growth.”

Richard Janvrin is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. He started writing as a teenager before breaking into sports coverage professionally in 2015. From there, he entered the iGaming space in 2018 and has covered numerous aspects, including news, reviews, bonuses/promotions, sweepstakes casinos, legal, and more.

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