Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern meet the NBA in London: why NBA Europe’s $1 billion franchise sales are on hold until the EuroLeague fight is settled

Some of the biggest names in European soccer are about to sit down with the NBA about basketball. Executives from clubs understood to include Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan will hold talks with NBA officials on Tuesday, Oct. 27, about the league’s planned European competition, first reported Friday by Mark Kleinman of Sky News. The club leaders will already be in London for the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday night, and it is not yet clear whether the meeting will be in person or remote.

The timing says a lot about where NBA Europe stands as a business. The league has spent more than six months talking to investors willing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for each of 12 permanent franchises, and as much as $1 billion for London. Yet no buyer has been named. Industry sources now believe the NBA is unlikely to complete any franchise sale until its standoff with the EuroLeague is fully resolved.

Why the sales are stuck

There had been expectations that the first winning bids would be announced by now. Back in August, the field in some cities was described as narrowing, with decisions on buyers for Berlin, Madrid and Milan expected within weeks. That window has passed. What changed is the EuroLeague. On Oct. 6, at a meeting in Cernobbio near Lake Como, all 13 of its shareholder clubs rejected the NBA’s proposal to bring Europe’s top club competition into a single operation with NBA Europe. One club reportedly called the plan colonialist, and the Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the offer would have required the EuroLeague to keep its current structure and stop expanding.

For a buyer, that uncertainty goes straight to price. A permanent seat in a 16-club league is worth one thing if it is the only top-tier competition on the continent, and something else if it has to fight a rival for players, arenas, broadcasters and sponsors. The EuroLeague answered with its own 10-year plan: permanent franchises for its current owners, growth from 20 to 24 teams in 2027-28, and a projected €3.4 billion in payouts to clubs over a decade. Until investors know which Europe they are buying into, the NBA has little reason to lock in prices, and buyers have little reason to sign.

Three of the clubs expected on Tuesday’s call, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, are EuroLeague shareholders. That makes them central to any deal between the two sides. They help decide what the EuroLeague accepts, and they are also obvious candidates for NBA Europe places in Madrid, Barcelona and Munich.

NBA deputy commissioner Marc Tatum on NBA Europe project: "This is a historic moment, we have to do it right, and we expect to announce teams soon".

— Aris Barkas (@arbarkas) October 20, 2026

Who wants in, and at what price

The bidding has been crowded since the spring. When non-binding proposals were due on March 31, more than 120 prospective investors had expressed interest, and bids ranged from the league’s expected $500 million entry level to $1 billion or more. The NBA hired JPMorgan Chase and Raine Group to run the process. Its 12 target cities are Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Istanbul, London, Lyon, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris and Rome.

London is the prize. Bidders there have included the billionaire Reuben family, minority owners of Newcastle United; a consortium that includes Formula E owner Liberty Global and former Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy; and Nikesh Arora, the Palo Alto Networks chief executive who last year led a group that bought 49% of English cricket’s London Spirit for £145 million. In August, Arora was said to have assembled investors ready to pay more than $1 billion. Earlier reports linked Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to London as well, Qatar Sports Investments, the owner of PSG, to Paris, and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital, which owns AC Milan, to Milan.

For context, $1 billion for an unbuilt team in a league that has not played a game is a big number, but it is still far below the NBA itself. Forbes’ latest list put the average NBA franchise at about $6.1 billion. Part of the pitch is that early buyers get in at a fraction of that price, the way NBA expansion teams once did.

The NBA’s pitch, and the pushback

Deputy commissioner Mark Tatum has been making that case all week. He said the average permanent NBA Europe team is projected to be profitable by its third season, and that the league expects to begin announcing teams as agreements are finalized. “There’s no timeline yet on when we announce the clubs,” Tatum said. “I would say, our timeline is we plan to start rolling this thing out a year from now. So, in the not-too-distant future we do expect to be able to announce who some of the franchisees are going to be.”

He also framed the project as more than a league. “We’re about creating significantly more value and reinvesting into the European basketball ecosystem,” he said, pointing to the merit-based pathways in the NBA’s 16-club format that “give every fan and club the right to dream.” The NBA has said it will put billions of dollars of its own money into getting the league running.

Jordi Bertomeu, who ran the EuroLeague from its creation in 2000 until 2022, pushed back in an interview published Thursday. He said the NBA’s terms “as they are being presented today are not those of a collaboration, based on what we know.” His main concern was control, not money. “If European clubs move to a model that they are told will generate much more economic activity and much higher revenues, it is not guaranteed,” he said. “In exchange, they would give up control over their own future. And if, three years from now, what they have been promised does not happen, they will not be able to change anything.” NBA sources responded that all shareholding clubs would take part in league governance, just as owners do in the NBA.

Bertomeu did see room for a deal. “I have no doubt that the NBA could do an extraordinary commercial job,” he said, naming commercial operations and arena infrastructure as the places the two sides should work together.

At least one NBA owner is openly cheering. Suns owner Mat Ishbia said on the Hoop Collective podcast this week that he is “a supporter” and that NBA Europe is “not a competitor of the NBA.” His view is that the goal should be the second-best league in the world. “Europe has a lot of great leagues, and how do we put it together and really make it great? You put the NBA stamp on it,” he said, adding that owners should think about where the game is in 20 years rather than short-term returns.

The risks buyers are weighing

Not every investor is convinced. Some prospective bidders raised concerns in April about the proposed revenue and cost model. Building a competitive team in a new league means paying for players, staff and, in many cities, arenas that are fit for a modern product. Basketball’s audience in most of Europe is still small next to soccer and tennis. That is exactly why soccer clubs matter here. They bring stadium operations, sponsor lists, global fan bases and, in Madrid, Barcelona and Munich, basketball sections that already play at the top level.

What to watch next

Tuesday’s talks are the first test. After that, the EuroLeague has said it will name its new expansion teams in mid-November, and it expects to ratify its permanent franchise model within about 60 days of the Lake Como meeting, which points to early December. A club executive told reporters this month that they expected the NBA to return with an improved offer. If a revised proposal lands before those dates, the franchise sales could move quickly. If not, the NBA’s October 2027 launch target and the first $1 billion check in European basketball will both have to wait.