A possible NBA-EuroLeague merger has been rejected as the NBA looks to streamline its October 2027 launch date.
EuroLeague teams have reportedly rejected a proposal from the NBA to merge with its upcoming Europe-based league, NBA Europe.
Reports in Greece from SDNA revealed clubs unanimously opposed a proposal from the NBA to merge with its NBA Europe League during a EuroLeague meeting in Como, Italy yesterday (5 October).
According to the report, there were some EuroLeague club officials that would be willing to negotiate a new offer for a potential merger or collaboration with the NBA. However, the majority were staunchly against it.
Prior to the EuroLeague meeting in Italy yesterday, Italian news outlet Gazzetta dello Sport, revealed the NBA’s proposal to EuroLeague stakeholders for a merger, but under two conditions. The first being it needed an answer to its proposal by the end of the meeting held in Como, which was rejected.
The second proposal focuses on the possible formation of the merger. The NBA wanted all 13 EuroLeague teams to remain intact as currently constructed, but wanted them to morph into franchises to accommodate three new teams as part of NBA Europe.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the NBA is seeking to utilise the existing EuroLeague infrastructure and teams to form a more seamless league that could benefit from the NBA’s commercial partnerships and media rights holders.
NBA Europe has been in the works for several years, outlining its commercial strategy, the 12 European cities it hopes to land a franchise in, and the launch date for the league; October 2027.
The NBA has been working with FIBA to formulate the structure of the league and a possible merger with EuroLeague could make this a more seamless process.
The EuroLeague has also been working on expanding its commercial proposition to stakeholders and investors this year, inking new deals in Abu Dhabi.
Insider Sport has reached out to the NBA for comment.
Building on football’s foundations
Last week, NBA Deputy Commissioner, Mark Tatum, attended the European Football Clubs (EFC) annual conference to reveal how NBA Europe is looking to emulate EuroLeague by sellibg teams to European football club stakeholders.
The 12 European markets NBA Europe is seeking to establish a team in: London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Rome, Milan, Berlin, Munich, Madrid, Barcelona, Athens and Istanbul, are all home to football clubs that were also in attendance at the EFC annual meeting.
According to a report from The Athletic, Tatum was seen speaking privately with executives from FC Barcelona, FC Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.
It has been previously reported that the NBA is looking to leverage the popularity and standing of existing European football clubs to house sister-basketball clubs and gain stakeholder interest.
“I think one of the things that we’re trying to do, as I mentioned in Europe, with our Europe League, is to replicate some of the great learnings from what you all have built here,” said Tatum to the audience at the EFC meeting.
“Football is clearly the biggest sport in the world. European football is one of the biggest commercial entities in the world, and we’re just trying to learn as much as we can from the people in this room.”
The NBA plans to invest more than $3bn in support of the European league in a bid to reduce early-stage risks and build a path for future profitability.
The investment will be deployed across different verticals, including for league-wide marketing campaigns designed to build a “valuable commercial product from day one”, shared a source close to the matter to Insider Sport in May 2026.
Tatum recently explained that new basketball-purpose arenas will also be needed to support the new teams as there are many European cities that do not have arenas dedicated to basketball.
“The investment that we’re looking to create in this league in Europe is to bring more investment in basketball development, player development, through academies, investment in infrastructure and to really turn this into a commercially viable opportunity,” said Tatum.
“The things we are looking for is that commitment to investing in grassroots programs, to investing in arenas, to investing in growing the game of basketball throughout the continent of Europe.”
