EuroLeague CEO criticizes NBA's ambitious European plan as a 'bit of a broken record'

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LONDON (AP) — European basketball often is a hot mess of passionate fandom, heated rivalries and financial problems.

Holding some powerful fiefdoms together is the EuroLeague. It’s not thrilled about the NBA’s plans to create a new competition on the continent.

It’s not concerned, either.

"We've only heard the plan or the fireworks of how amazing it will be, how much potential there is,” EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas said of the NBA’s proposed league. “But having a theory is one — and making it work is two.”

“We’ve been here for 26 years. We know how Europe functions."

With clubs like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, the EuroLeague is considered the best men's professional competition outside the NBA. The 20-team league is comprised of 13 “shareholder” clubs immune from relegation. The rest either qualify through their domestic leagues or through invitation.

The NBA, in partnership with FIBA, is eying a 16-team model with 12 permanent members — with a target start of October 2027. It has identified Athens, Istanbul, Paris, Lyon, Munich, Berlin, Rome, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, London and Manchester as potential host cities.

Attention is currently on three EuroLeague shareholder clubs that haven’t renewed their 10-year licenses — Real Madrid, Fenerbahce in Istanbul and the Tony Parker -owned ASVEL near Lyon. Parker has signaled his support for the NBA.

Recent holdout Barcelona has indicated it will extend for another 10 years beyond this season.

"It’s a big deal, of course. It’s an important brand, and we’re happy that they committed,” Motiejunas said of Barcelona, which hasn’t commented publicly.

Motiejunas, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he’s confident all 13 clubs will stay.

“The NBA has been announcing and announcing things for a year but still it’s nothing that you can grasp on,” Motiejunas said. “As businessmen, these are team owners, they also begin to see it’s a little bit of a broken record of ‘we will announce later,’ ... The ’27 start is already around the corner.”

EuroLeague clubs reportedly have a 10 million euro ($11.6 million) exit clause, but Motiejunas would only say that through “consequences and legal teams” contracts can be broken. There's no NBA opt-out, he added.

The EuroLeague claims to still be open to some type of relationship with the NBA. But in the meantime, it sent a letter to the NBA warning of legal action should talks with EuroLeague shareholders continue.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver shrugged off the threat Thursday in Berlin ahead of the Orlando Magic's 118-111 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA’s first regular-season game in Germany.

He also shrugged off the EuroLeague more generally.

“If I thought that the ceiling was the existing EuroLeague and their fan interest," Silver said, "we wouldn’t be spending the kind of time and attention we are on this project.”

Media reports indicate the NBA is looking for at least a $500 million franchise fee. Silver noted that any investors will have to be patient because “it will take a while, I think, before it is a viable commercial enterprise.” He added it will be "multi-decades in the making.”

Silver cautioned that “potentially” starting a new league is an “enormous undertaking” and described talks with Real Madrid and other Spanish clubs as “more in the category of fact finding.”

The European basketball landscape is similar to soccer in that domestic leagues feed the continental competitions. EuroLeague is like UEFA's Champions League. Basketball also has several other international leagues — but they're lesser known than their soccer counterparts, so fans get confused. FIBA, for example, has its own Basketball Champions League, which would be a potential feeder to an NBA league.

Silver sees potential because basketball is the No. 2 sport in Europe after soccer.

“Rather than think of us as taking share from (soccer), I look at the commercial side of basketball as it exists now in Europe, and it probably represents about 1 percent of the commercial sports marketplace,” he said.

Many European basketball teams, including some in the EuroLeague, have struggled financially. The system has often relied on wealthy owners to cover team debts each year. EuroLeague has implemented spending restrictions to promote financial sustainability.

In a revenue boost, the EuroLeague last season took its “Final Four” championship outside Europe — to Abu Dhabi — for the first time. It brought a flavor of Euro hoops chaos, too, as Panathinaikos majority owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos was handed a 5-game ban for his "threatening actions” against referees.

EuroLeague also granted a multi-year license to a newly created Dubai team and recently extended its partnership with global sports marketing agency IMG.

“We focus on ourselves,” Motiejunas said. “We will be able to adapt, there’s no question about it, and we will continue to fight.”

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