AC Milan owner RedBird hires former Nets chief Brett Yormark to run a new Milan company that includes its NBA Europe bid

The executive who led the Nets to Brooklyn is going to Milan, and one of his jobs will be getting the city a team in NBA Europe. RedBird Capital Partners, the American investment firm that owns AC Milan, on Friday launched Milan Sports & Entertainment, a new holding company for its sports, venue and entertainment interests in the city, and named Brett Yormark its chief executive.

Among the plans RedBird listed for the company is “exploring the opportunity to own a Milan-based franchise in the proposed NBA Europe league.” Yormark, 60, is the commissioner of the Big 12 Conference and will leave that job at the end of January 2027. He will report to RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale, one of the central figures in the NBA’s European project.

What the new Milan company holds

AC Milan is the anchor. RedBird bought the club in 2022 in a deal with an enterprise value of about $1.3 billion, and its revenue has since grown from $299 million to $463 million in the 2024-25 season. Milan and Inter are building a new 71,500-seat stadium to replace San Siro, and its naming rights deal with Generali is worth $725 million over 20 years.

Part of the plan	What RedBird says it will do
AC Milan	Majority stake; the club stays the center of the group
New Milan stadium	Shared with Inter; develop the area around it
Venue management	Run concessions, merchandise and premium suites at stadiums and arenas
NBA Europe	Explore owning a Milan-based franchise
San Donato	Build a new sports and live entertainment destination
Tennis	Raise Milan’s place in international tennis

“I have known and worked with Brett Yormark for 25 years and could not think of a better executive in sports globally to help execute this strategy,” Cardinale said in RedBird’s statement. “In Brett, we can bring the best of American sports and live entertainment to Milan as we continue to build this next chapter in Milan’s ascendance.”

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, who struck a deal with Redbird, will run Redbird's Milan sports properties, including its possible NBA Europe team, @JustBirny reports https://t.co/4LNJY4IE12

— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) November 13, 2026

Why the NBA side matters

Yormark ran the Nets’ parent company for 14 years. He oversaw the franchise’s move from New Jersey, its rebrand and the opening of Barclays Center, and in 2007 he signed a 20-year naming rights deal for the arena at what RedBird calls a record price. In the Nets’ first season in Brooklyn, the arena sold about 11,000 full-season tickets and committed roughly 80% of its suites, and it hosted about 200 events in its first year.

That is the kind of building an NBA Europe team in Milan would need. Justin Birnbaum reported that Cardinale is in talks to buy a Milan franchise, in a process where bids have ranged from $500 million to $1 billion, and that he already owns land in San Donato Milanese, outside the city, that could take an arena. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum has been pitching NBA Europe franchises at about $1 billion, but NBA Europe’s franchise sales are on hold while the league works out its relationship with the EuroLeague.

Aris Barkas reported a more detailed path. The bid runs through Varese, the Italian club about 60 kilometers from Milan that is tied to RedBird. The team would stay in Varese, perhaps adding Milan or North Italy to its name, play domestic league games in its current arena and move NBA Europe games to a new arena expected near Malpensa, the area between Milan and Varese where the city’s main airport sits. The other Italian team expected in NBA Europe is BC Roma, the club Luka Dončić has invested in.

What comes next

Yormark has a multiyear deal and is believed to have received equity in the business. He will build the company’s executive team and run the commercial side, while AC Milan hires a separate executive for soccer. “My career has really been about building brands, businesses and platforms,” Yormark said in a sit-down with Birnbaum. “I think this opportunity presents a very similar dynamic, but being able to do it on a global stage, which truly excites me.”

A person familiar with the plan said the company could go public in five to 10 years. For the NBA, the more immediate question is whether Milan gets one of its first European franchises, and the hire gives RedBird’s bid an executive who has already opened an NBA arena.