London is among the sporting capitals of the world.
A city of some eight million people can watch…
Premier League football at six different grounds, plus England matches at Wembley Stadium; cricket at Lord’s or the Oval, two grounds with a combined age of nearly 450 years; rugby at 82,000-seater Twickenham; prestige tennis with strawberries and cream at Wimbledon; world-class athletics at Olympic Park; and riotous darts or somnolent snooker at Alexandra Palace.
The capital of the United Kingdom is also increasingly hot on North American franchise sports – particularly what those in the United States refer to as the Big Four.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley host the NFL every year, and the NBA’s London Game returned to the O2 after a seven-year absence in January. MLB and NHL, meanwhile, have visited the city more sporadically but are working on plans for a more sustained presence.
So far, none of the behemoth US sports leagues have made a permanent pitch in the Big Smoke, however. But that will soon change.
At least six suitors for NBA Europe franchise in London; NBA held talks about $1bn investment at World Cup final
By media rights revenue and franchise valuation, the NBA is the second richest sports league in the world.
In total, the 30 NBA franchises are routinely valued at about $165bn. For context, the whole of the Premier League combined is worth in the $30-40bn range.
But NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is not resting on his laurels. He is in expansion mode.
As well as the likely addition of two new franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle respectively, the NBA wants to launch a European league in time for the 2027 season.
The NBA is committing around $3bn in start-up funds and is speaking to private equity houses, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and football club-owning billionaires about investments between $500m and $1bn per franchise. There will likely be 16 franchises in total, of which 12 will be permanent members.
London, unsurprisingly, is attracting some of the biggest and richest interest.
A new report from Sky Sports, for instance, says that Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum spoke to bidders for a London franchise at Sunday’s World Cup final in New York, where a pitiful Argentina were beaten by Spain.
The report also identifies at least six groups who have held an interest in a London-based franchise:
- Formula E owners Liberty Global
- A consortium including Tottenham co-owner and former chairman Daniel Levy alongside Jahm Najafi, co-founder of private equity firm MSP Sports Capital
- Newcastle United co-owners Reuben Brothers
- Buss Sports Capital, the investment arm of the family who used to own the LA Lakers
- Chelsea, LA Lakers and LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly
- The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, who own Newcastle and hundreds of other sports properties
A $1bn investment in a London-based franchise would be the second-biggest outright deal for a team in UK sports history, behind only the 2022 takeover of Chelsea.
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