(Reuters) – The National Basketball Association is in discussions with some of Europe’s top football clubs about backing teams in a new basketball league on the continent, in what could potentially be a significant international expansion effort by a U.S. sports league.
“At this week’s NBA Board of Governors meeting, the league will report on its exploration of a new men’s basketball league in Europe, in partnership with FIBA,” said a spokesperson for the NBA.
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) is the world basketball’s governing body.
The NBA has held early-stage talks with owners of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Manchester City among others, along with possible backers of a London-based team, regarding potential investment and venues for the new league, according to Bloomberg News, which reported the developments earlier.
A spokesperson for Qatar Sports Investments, which owns PSG, said that it has been “approached with regards to a basketball franchise in Paris in relation to which we have expressed an interest.”
NBA owners are reviewing plans this week that could see about eight franchises being launched across Europe, Bloomberg said. The new franchises could be sold for an initial fee of about $500 million each.
Manchester City did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report.
A group of investors was looking to create a basketball league that will span Asia and Europe to rival the NBA in the future, with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund as a strategic partner and Swiss bank UBS as an adviser, the Financial Times had reported in February.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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