FIBA aims to launch NBA Europa League for October 2027

Many people find it hard to believe because there are still many things that need to be resolved for such a launch to happen, but NBA and the FIBA they seem determined to inaugurate their NBA European project in less than two years.

“Depending on a vote by the NBA and FIBA ​​offices, the October 2027 launch goal is realistic” explained the general secretary of FIBA, Andreas Zagklis. “It will not be an NBA competition, but an NBA-FIBA partnership. A large operational part will be done by people from the NBA, but FIBA ​​is not there just to give its blessing. We have been organizing events since the 1950s, the BCL, which we co-own, continues to grow. As for the talks with the ECA (the company that organizes the Euroleague), they are good. We hope that there will be many more meetings. For the first time since 2002/03. there are breakthroughs. Our role as a governing body is to bring everyone back and ensure that everyone finds their place at the table for the future of European basketball. »

For FIBA, which has been under the control of the Euroleague at the highest European level for two decades, this association with the NBA sounds like revenge.

“June Madness” for the last four cards?

Moreover, Andreas Zagklis does not fail to ironize the arguments of the ECA, which evokes the danger of a closed league organized by foreign capital in Europe, while the Euroleague used the opposite arguments to impose an almost closed league for ten years by FIBA, seeking capital outside Europe.

“We are already fragmented” he notes. “I’m not worried about statements that say: ‘We don’t need a new competition’. For our part, we think we need an event that brings everyone under the same roof. I’m not satisfied with the current situation. In 2000, FIBA fought for a simple structure with two or three levels of competition. We were sued for that in Munich, as well as from European clubs, as well as some arguments from Europe, as well as in the ECA. This meant that, from this perspective, the Euroleague was fighting for this free competition.

It remains to be seen how to organize all this, especially the circulation between the different levels of European basketball (championships, BCL, NBA Europe, etc.). In addition to 12 permanent clubs, four annual bonus tickets will also be on sale. Maybe as part of the previous big tournament, the European “June Madness”?