EuroLeague teams reportedly reject initial offer to merge with NBA Europe: ‘It didn’t sit well’

The NBA and the EuroLeague won’t be joining forces for NBA Europe just yet. 

Members of the EuroLeague rejected a formal offer from the NBA this week to merge and create a single NBA Europe entity, according to both Front Office Sports and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. The 13 permanent EuroLeague clubs met in Cernobbio, Italy, on Tuesday to discuss the collaboration proposal. A supermajority of owners rejected the offer — including Barcelona, Fenerbahce and Olympiacos, according to the report. 

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The offer from the NBA was described as “colonialist.”

“It didn’t sit well with the EuroLeague owners who have invested time and money into their league,” one source told Front Office Sports. “They’ve built real brands, real franchises. They just felt like it was very much a power play.”

The NBA is working to launch a 16-team league in Europe as soon as 2027. The goal was to include some existing teams, and some new teams, with some being permanent and some using a promotion/relegation system. The league has received bids on expansion franchises in cities throughout Europe already, too. 

The proposal from the NBA included a stipulation that the EuroLeague pause its planned expansion, which owners reportedly didn’t like. The league currently has 20 total teams, and wants to expand to as many as 24 by the 2027-28 season. Some of the markets overlap with ones the NBA is targeting. 

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The NBA is reportedly targeting Rome and Milan in Italy, London and Manchester in England, Paris and Lyon in France, Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, Munich and Berlin and Germany, and Athens in Greece and Istanbul in Turkey.

The proposal, per Front Office Sports, also valued the EuroLeague at far less than $3 billion. The NBA’s offer “wasn’t even close to that.”

Despite the vote on Tuesday, negotiations between the two sides are expected to continue. ESPN reported that a “significant number” of EuroLeague teams have expressed an interest in joining NBA Europe, too. 

While there are still plenty of details to be figured out before NBA Europe can launch, a combined venture with the EuroLeague isn’t happening just yet.

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/euroleague-teams-reportedly-reject-initial-offer-to-merge-with-nba-europe-it-didnt-sit-well-035554306.html

Author : Ryan Young

Publish date : 2026-10-07 03:55:00

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