Scheduled
Denver Nuggets at New Orleans Pelicans
2026-27 · Regular season
Gerry Cardinale says NBA Europe ‘will start anyway’ without a EuroLeague deal, and he has a 20,000-seat Milan arena ready to build
AC Milan owner Gerry Cardinale expects the first NBA Europe franchises to be named by early 2027 and says RedBird already has permission for a 20,000-seat arena in San Donato, as the EuroLeague prepares its own franchise vote.
In this article
Gerry Cardinale does not think the NBA needs the EuroLeague to launch in Europe. The founder of RedBird Capital Partners, which owns AC Milan and is chasing a Milan franchise in NBA Europe, said in an Italian newspaper interview published Saturday that the league’s European project will go ahead whether or not the two sides make a deal.
“I think the NBA is negotiating with the EuroLeague, but one way or another, if they can’t reach an agreement, NBA Europe will start anyway,” Cardinale said. “Perhaps at the end of the year or in the first months of 2027, the first group of new franchises for Europe will be announced. We’ll see when it happens.”
The comments came a day after RedBird launched Milan Sports & Entertainment, a holding company for its sports and venue business in the city, and hired former Nets chief Brett Yormark to run it. Exploring a Milan-based NBA Europe team is one of the new company’s stated goals.
A 20,000-seat arena that already has permission
Cardinale also gave the most specific detail yet about where a Milan team would play. RedBird owns land in San Donato Milanese, just southeast of the city, where AC Milan once looked at building its own stadium before the club and Inter agreed to build a new stadium together.
“In San Donato we own the land, and if I am granted the franchise for Milan, I will be able to start work fairly quickly, because we already have planning permission for a 20,000-seat arena,” he said.
That matters in a league that wants new buildings. An NBA Europe owner in Milan would otherwise have to share or rent an arena, and the city’s existing top basketball club, Olimpia Milano, is staying in the EuroLeague. RedBird’s basketball path runs through Varese, the Italian club it is tied to, which could keep playing domestic games at home and move NBA Europe games to a new arena.
Why a soccer owner wants a basketball team
Cardinale framed the whole plan as a way to make AC Milan richer, not as a side project. He said the money from the new stadium, the San Donato arena and other businesses “like NBA Europe” would “transform the financial profile of the club.” His target is the gap with England. “Right now only Premier League clubs are able to invest certain sums and secure the top players,” he said, adding that he wants to be sure no one can tell him Milan cannot afford a player.
He also said he would never sell the club, and that the group is already building a hospitality and venue management company and talking about bringing a tennis tournament to Milan.
The EuroLeague’s own vote is weeks away
The EuroLeague is moving on a separate track. People close to the competition said this week that its board will vote before the end of the year, likely within three or four weeks, on permanent franchise licenses for six clubs: Valencia, Maxima Roma, Hapoel Tel Aviv, PAOK, Dubai and Paris Basketball. The six were the best-ranked in an internal review of competitiveness, facilities and attendance, but they still face due diligence. A club that misses out on a permanent license could join on a temporary one.
New franchises are expected to pay entry fees of €50 million to €90 million. A senior executive at one of the 13 shareholder clubs also said several soccer clubs at the Champions League level, one in Italy and one in Germany, had contacted the EuroLeague this week about creating basketball teams and joining. Talks between the EuroLeague and the NBA about a single competition are continuing, the people said, with no major change since shareholders rejected the NBA’s proposal at Lake Como on Oct. 6.
| Question | Where it stands |
|---|---|
| NBA Europe launch | Planned for the 2027-28 season with FIBA |
| First NBA Europe franchises | End of 2026 or early 2027, Cardinale expects |
| Milan bid | RedBird, through Varese; land and arena permission in San Donato |
| EuroLeague franchise vote | Expected within three to four weeks |
| EuroLeague candidates | Valencia, Maxima Roma, Hapoel Tel Aviv, PAOK, Dubai, Paris |
| Three-year licenses | Partizan, Crvena Zvezda, Virtus Bologna and Napoli |
What it means for Italy
Italy is where the two plans collide most directly. The EuroLeague’s model keeps Olimpia Milano as a permanent member, adds Maxima Roma and gives a three-year license to Napoli, the club Josh Hart just bought into. The NBA’s map has one team in Milan and one in Rome, with RedBird’s Varese project and BC Roma, the club Luka Dončić invested in, seen as the front-runners.
If both votes go through, Milan and Rome could each end up with one team in each league. Cardinale’s message on Saturday was that he does not expect a merger to decide whether his team gets built.
Join the discussion
0 commentsTalk basketball. Keep it respectful. You can use a name or stay Anonymous. Comments publish immediately.
Be the first to start the conversation.