Barça, tempted by the NBA: today, a vital day for the future of European basketball

Starting today, Barça faces vital days for the immediate future of its basketball section with the NBA knocking at the door. Represented by a delegation headed by the president Joan Laportathe Barça entity will be at the top of the 13 Euroleague ownership clubs in the Lake Como (Italy) with key points to discuss. They will discuss the conversion of member clubs to franchises and the addition of eight new franchises for expansion to a total of 24 teams starting next season, but also the NBA’s proposal to organize its new European league of NBA Europe along with the Euroleague.

Laporta will lead a large delegation from the Barça club, which will also be represented at the conclave by the directors responsible for the basketball section, Sisco Pujol and Jaume Nicolàs; the secretary of the Board of Directors, Josep Cubells, and the director of Professional Sports, Xavier O’Callaghan.

The NBA offer will be an issue to be discussed as important as the other two, but it is presented as the most critical issue for the future of European basketball both because of what and when considering the deadlines. And the thing is that both inside and out, the NBA remains firm in its idea of ​​starting its new European league in October 2027 and, even if it is not today, the Euroleague led by the Spanish Chus Bueno As CEO he has to decide soon if he accepts the NBA’s proposal to go together hand in hand or, on the contrary, follows his own path with his new format.

This offer could consist of an absorption of the Euroleague for a merger, according to what he himself said to Sport24 the owner of AEK Athens, Makis Angelopoulos. Other information suggests that the NBA could acquire the European entity.

However, the American league has reiterated that it will make the NBA Europe project a reality whether with or without the Euroleague, which raises a possible scenario with two top continental competitions starting next year.

As happens in the case of real Madridthe NBA knows that having the Barça brand would increase the value of its European project exponentially. That is why the American league tried to convince the Barça club with Pau Gasol as an intermediary in a high-level meeting in London earlier in the year with the commissioner Adam Silver and Laporta himself among others. At that time, Barça decided that it would stay in the Euroleague in the face of the unknowns of NBA Europe, although without closing itself to anything.

Betting on NBA Europe has pros and cons for the Barça club taking into account its situation. Although the budget in salary mass has increased this year from 28 to 36 million, An economically profitable basketball section would be among the advantages given the NBA’s promise of a more viable model. Even so, the new Euroleague format also promises to generate more income thanks to the revaluation of the clubs with their conversion to franchises.

Gasol, who will have a role in NBA Europe yet to be defined, was clearly asked if Barça basketball will stop being deficient with NBA Europe.

“What we want is for basketball in Europe to be a sustainable model, not for it to be a loss-making sport model. We have the opportunity to create relationships and a different model that has a much greater margin for growth,” Pau told MD at the All-Star after that meeting.

The arrival of an investor would be another advantage at a time when the club needs it like water in May to finance the new Palau Blaugrana. The NBA has said that it already has favorite investors for each of its 12 target cities for franchises including Barcelona. However, for the new Palau, Barça is already contemplating the formula of having an external company assume the cost in exchange for granting the exploitation of events not organized by the club for 50 years.

In any case, Barça needs an investor to face the fee of between 430 and 860 million euros It is difficult to enter NBA Europe and here comes the big disadvantage. Not being a SAD, Barça would probably have to modify the statutes to preserve its partner ownership model in the face of the NBA’s investor model. The club would have to create a commercial company to allow the arrival of an investor who would become part of that company with the risk of losing control over the basketball section. Added to this is the logical uncertainty of a large-scale project. Barça, with a critical decision What to do if Europe is divided into Euroleague and NBA Europe.