Mark Tatum pitches $1 billion NBA Europe franchises as the EuroLeague lines up six new members at €50 million to €90 million each

NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum went to a New York investor conference on Tuesday with a simple pitch for the league’s European project: the clubs already playing at the top of European basketball are losing money and getting nothing back for it. “The existing teams in the ecosystem, quite frankly, are tired of investing tens of millions of dollars a year without showing any appreciation in the values of their franchises,” Tatum said at the Invest New York event. “They’re looking for a new economic partner.”

The timing is pointed. One day earlier, the Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport reported the EuroLeague’s answer: six new permanent members, four three-year licenses and a price list far below the NBA’s. Both plans are now headed for the same 2027-28 season, and for some of the same cities.

Mark Tatum, Deputy Commissioner and COO of the @NBA, breaks down how NBA Europe will address the confusing landscape of European basketball at Invest New York: pic.twitter.com/ydDzR3vkX8

— Sportico (@Sportico) November 10, 2026

What Tatum said

Tatum said he is confident the top NBA Europe franchise fees will land around the $1 billion figure that has been attached to the project for months. He described the European system as “very confusing” for fans, with the EuroLeague, the Basketball Champions League, the EuroCup and domestic leagues “none of them actually connected to each other.” The NBA-FIBA plan would make its new league the top tier and turn FIBA’s Basketball Champions League into the second tier, with 12 permanent franchises “in the biggest markets” and four open places that any professional club can qualify for. “In European sports, they want all clubs to be able to dream,” he said.

He also pointed to markets the EuroLeague does not cover today. “They don’t have any presence in the UK today. They don’t have a permanent team in Paris today,” Tatum said. “And we’re going to go in and fill in those markets.” His case for buyers is about buildings as much as basketball. “Our launch of this league will spur incredible investment in infrastructure projects,” he said. “Let’s say there’s 30 to 40 home nights of basketball. You’ve got 320 other days to fill it up with music and concerts and conferences and other types of events.”

He was also blunt about the game-night product. “In some of those games, you wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing your family,” he said. “We want to replicate the NBA experience over there while maintaining the culture and the sporting culture and the passion that they have.”

The EuroLeague’s counteroffer

Under the plan reported Monday, Valencia, Paris Basketball, Dubai, Maxima Roma, Hapoel Tel Aviv and PAOK would become permanent EuroLeague franchises from 2027-28, with the same status as the current shareholder clubs. Partizan, Crvena Zvezda, Virtus Bologna and Napoli would get three-year licenses instead, with priority for two more permanent places when the competition grows to 28 teams in 2030. Nothing is final. The proposal still needs the EuroLeague board, which is expected to vote before the end of November.

The new franchises would reportedly pay entry fees of €50 million to €90 million each, about €400 million in total, and roughly €30 million of that would go to each of the 13 shareholder clubs. That is the EuroLeague’s direct answer to Tatum’s line about owners who never see a return. Its existing shareholders would get a cash payment now and permanent places, without moving to a new league.

These are the 6 clubs that will become EuroLeague franchises and the teams that are granted three-year licenseshttps://t.co/PizHUs9097

— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) November 9, 2026

	NBA Europe (NBA and FIBA)	EuroLeague plan (reported)
Start	October 2027	2027-28, at 24 teams
Permanent places	12 franchises	12 active shareholders plus 6 new franchises, and 4 clubs on three-year licenses
Open places	4, by qualification	2, through the EuroCup
Entry price	Top fees around $1 billion, Tatum says	€50 million to €90 million per new franchise
Money to existing clubs	Billions in distributions over the first decade, the NBA has said	About €30 million to each of 13 shareholders
Next step	No date yet for naming franchise buyers	Board vote expected by the end of November

The 13 shareholders include CSKA Moscow, which is still banned from international competition. That is why the reported list comes to 22 clubs with places locked in through 2030 rather than 24.

Same cities, two leagues

The overlap is clearest in Italy. The EuroLeague plan keeps Armani Olimpia Milan as a permanent member and adds Maxima Roma. Milan and Rome are both on the NBA’s list of 12 target cities. The same Italian report placed Varese and BC Roma on the NBA side. Varese has been linked to RedBird Capital’s bid for the Milan franchise, and BC Roma is the club Luka Dončić invested in. Paris is on both maps too: Paris Basketball would get a permanent EuroLeague place, while the NBA plans a permanent Paris team of its own.

This is the standoff that has kept NBA Europe’s franchise sales have been on hold since the EuroLeague’s 13 shareholder clubs rejected the NBA’s merger proposal in October. EuroLeague chief executive Chus Bueno warned of a “disaster” if the NBA launched its own competition. If the board approves the new list this month, the split becomes a fact, with two top-tier leagues competing for players, arenas, broadcasters and sponsors. Europe has not had that since the 2000-01 season, when the EuroLeague and FIBA’s SuproLeague ran at the same time.

For NBA Europe buyers, that changes the math. A $1 billion entry fee is easier to justify for the only top tier on the continent than for one of two. Tatum’s answer is that the NBA brings bigger markets, new arenas and a model that lets team values grow. The EuroLeague’s answer is cash now and its existing clubs.

And the expansion clock at home

Tatum also gave the domestic timeline. On the NBA’s decision about adding teams in Las Vegas and Seattle, he said: “We hope to make a decision by the end of this calendar year.” Mexico City has also been floated as a possible second market. Owners are weighing the $10 billion Las Vegas price and the softer Seattle number, and those expansion fees would go to the 30 existing NBA clubs, so the year-end decision matters for every owner. NBA Europe’s money would go into a new league first, so its sales depend more on whether the EuroLeague approves its new list this month.