Adam Silver sees NBA Europe as one of the projects that will shape his legacy as commissioner of the National Basketball Association.
The initiative to create a new league on the old continent in time for an October 2027 launch will demand billions of dollars in start-up capital and countless man-hours invested behind the scenes.
In total, the NBA reportedly is willing to provide up to $3bn to fund the launch. Once the competition has found its feet and its audience, the NBA thinks its first decade will yield $10bn for the European basketball ecosystem.
Significantly, NBA sources also say 90 per cent of the central league economics will go direct to NBA Europe franchises, not existing team owners.
Will it live up to its commercial billing? Josh Childress – former swingman for the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets and New Orleans Pelicans – certainly thinks it will.
NBA star turned investor gives verdict on NBA Europe
As well as in the NBA, Childress spent a significant portion of his career outside the United States, playing for Olympiacos (Greece), Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers (Australia) and San-en NeoPhoenix (Japan).
The Stanford graduate therefore knows a thing or two about the commercial potential of basketball beyond America’s borders.
He is also a successful investor. He co-founded CrestHaven Capital and Landspire Group and, his biography on the former investment firm’s website says, has managed $300m in business transactions.
Childress is, then, perhaps uniquely well placed to comment on NBA Europe. And speaking to the respected industry title Front Office Sports, he outlined why he is bullish on Silver’s expansion ambitions.
“The game has gone global,” he said.
“Talent is everywhere. I think the NBA opportunity in Europe is from teams who may have operated in a certain mom-and-pop fashion over the years or markets which are just underutilized, under-tapped and underserved. Bringing the NBA engine and that professionalism, to overseas and Europe is, I think, what they are seeing.
“But basketball is a global game. There is talent and capital everywhere. Sports over the last five to seven years has become an institutionally investable asset class. So, when you have large private equity firms or family offices that need to invest at scale, having the opportunity to buy a team in Paris, London and these top-tier markets is appealing.
“I’m actually shocked it took this long.”
Silver, along with the NBA’s ownership class, appear to have settled on a 16-team format for NBA Europe, with 12 permanent franchises.
Bids for team ownership have ranged from below $500m to in excess of $1bn.
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