By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Euroleague CEO Paulius Motiejunas said he wants to preserve the spirit of European basketball as his organisation faces potential competition from the ultra-powerful NBA.
The National Basketball Association is exploring the possibility of launching a European league in partnership with the sport’s global governing body FIBA, Commissioner Adam Silver said last month.
The league told Reuters that it believes the business of basketball is far from living up to its potential in Europe, amid a surge of popularity across the continent.
But Motiejunas said the Euroleague is staunchly opposed to a new operator in the region, as it celebrates 25 years with steadily growing attendance.
“We always say the same message, you know, we are the number one basketball league in Europe. We are strong. We don’t need a saviour,” Motiejunas told Reuters.
“We don’t want someone to come in and say, ‘you know, you can do much better’. Of course, we know that we can do much better. And we can do much better if we do it together.”
Basketball’s popularity has surged across Europe over the last several years, along with the level of talent on the continent, with roughly 15% of all NBA players today coming from Europe, including five of the last six MVPs.
Nowhere was that rise in popularity more evident than at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where dozens of athletes from outside the U.S. with NBA experience faced off, compared to just nine international NBA players who competed at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
But the current structure of European basketball – where teams in the Euroleague also compete in domestic leagues – is a departure for most Americans who are used to the unified NBA structure.
Motiejunas fears another league would only complicate the picture.
“It’s enough confusion to the international fans,” said Motiejunas.
“We can discuss, we can talk. There’s many ways to partner and to improve, to make the basketball product better. But we don’t need a new league.”
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum told Reuters this month: “We’ve tried for years to bring all of the relevant stakeholders together and we remain open to doing so.”
In 2021, the league formed NBA Africa, which organises the Basketball Africa League in conjunction with FIBA.
‘BIG ADVANTAGES’
There are areas where Motiejunas sees potential benefits from an NBA partnership with the Euroleague, which saw average attendance hit a new record in its 25th anniversary season with 10,589 spectators per game.
One of the “Big Four” North American men’s leagues, the NBA is virtually unrivalled in its marketing ability and savvy in the broadcast sector, after closing an 11-year broadcast deal last year worth $77 billion.
“This is one of the big advantages that the NBA can bring,” said Motiejunas, who said the league is strong in local markets but has an uphill fight in breaking through globally.
Helping clubs improve arenas and growing fans across new markets were among the top priorities for the league over the next five years, while maintaining a sporting culture that is unique from North America – whether an NBA partnership comes to pass or not.
“They have the talent, they have the names, they have marketing. But basketball and the passion and the way we play basketball and the way the fans understand basketball as a game, it’s different,” he said.
“And we need to maintain this and to safeguard this because this is the beauty of basketball.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Toby Davis)
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