NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum speaks during the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on June 20, 2019.
Sarah Steer | Getty Images
The NBA plans to begin naming bidders for Europe’s 12 permanent teams within the next 60 to 90 days, Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum told CNBC in an exclusive interview.
He said the Europa League is on track to start in October 2027.
The 12 new teams will be based in Rome, Milan, London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Athens and Istanbul. These will be joined by four rotation clubs available to European FIBA member teams on an annual basis based on their performance. FIBA is the international governing body for sports in Europe.
Tatum told CNBC Sports that bids for each team are expected at the end of June. Tatum said the league is looking for a “good operator” to invest in a new stadium, adding that there are only a few “world-class” basketball arenas across Europe.
“We’re on a very fast schedule here,” Tatum said. “We’re going to identify the right partners in the right cities, and we’re going to spend as much time as necessary to identify those right partners. We’re talking to existing basketball teams in our ecosystem, as well as soccer teams that don’t currently have an interested basketball team. We’re also talking to individuals and other entities that don’t have a basketball team but would like to invest in a basketball team.”
Tatum noted that while basketball is the second most popular sport in Europe, “its commercial market share there is less than 1%.” He estimated that there are about 300 million basketball fans in Europe.
The NBA is considering how to combine NBA European teams with existing North American teams. In the short term, Tatum said there is a possibility that NBA Europe teams could play teams based in the United States or Canada in the preseason. Then, over time, teams from the two leagues could potentially meet in the Emirates NBA Cup. The Emirates NBA Cup is the league’s first midseason tournament in 2023.
Tatum said NBA officials are having “a ton” of conversations with potential media partners for NBA Europe, including “some of the major global streaming partners.” He said that even though the league is based in Europe, the value of the league will translate into global benefits.
“We’re seeing an incredible amount of inbound interest in distributing these games not just across Europe but around the world,” Tatum said. “There is no doubt that it will generate global interest and therefore media partners are very interested in publishing that content.”
Tatum also pitched investors in the NBA’s Basketball Africa League. Although the league has been running for six seasons, the NBA only recently began selling individual teams to investors.
Tatum said BAL currently contributes $250 million in GDP to the continent, which he estimates could rise to $5.4 billion by 2034.
“Eleven of the world’s top 20 growing economies are in Africa, and Africa is expected to account for more than 40 percent of the world’s youth over the next five years,” Tatum said. “So what I would say to those investors is, ‘What a great market opportunity.’ Basketball has now turned into a business, creating jobs and economic growth, and now is the opportunity to get in at the ground level and take advantage of that growth.”
