🌍 Across The Atlantic: The Biggest Untapped Opportunity in Global Sports?

European Basketball: The Biggest Untapped Opportunity in Global Sports?

While basketball is a truly global sport, its professional landscape in Europe remains highly fragmented.

Despite having an established infrastructure and a wide array of domestic and continental competitions, European basketball significantly underperforms commercially relative to its fan interest.

A fragmented ecosystem holding back growth

At the heart of this underperformance lies a long-standing and unresolved conflict between FIBA Europe and Euroleague Basketball. This long-standing institutional divide has hindered the development of a unified, commercially sustainable ecosystem capable of realizing the sport’s full potential in Europe.

Today, the European professional basketball calendar is overloaded and disjointed. Top teams compete in national, regional, and continental competitions—playing up to 70–80 games over a nine-month season. On the continental level, four main men’s competitions dominate:

Euroleague Basketball oversees: The EuroLeague (Europe's top-tier club competition), The EuroCup (its secondary tournament)

FIBA Europe organizes: The Basketball Champions League (launched in 2016 to rival the EuroLeague), The FIBA Europe Cup

Additionally, there are continental competitions for women (e.g., EuroLeague Women, EuroCup Women) and youth (e.g., EuroLeague Next Generation Tournament).

This structure emerged from two decades of power struggles: The original format of the EuroLeague was created in 1958 by FIBA Europe. In 2000, Euroleague Basketball was founded by 11 top European clubs to take control of club competitions. In 2016, FIBA Europe launched the Basketball Champions League, aiming to dethrone Euroleague Basketball and regain control of the top club competition.

The conflict escalated into legal disputes, including a complaint by FIBA to the European Commission over alleged anti-competitive behavior by Euroleague Commercial Assets (ECA).

A massive gap between popularity and monetization

Basketball is the third most popular sport globally, with a fan base exceeding 1.2 billion, strong growth trends, and disproportionate appeal among younger demographics. The NBA alone surpassed $10 billion in annual revenue, driven by a highly commercialized and media-savvy model.

Yet in Europe, this potential remains largely unrealized.

Despite reaching $600 million in revenue in 2022, the EuroLeague lags far behind football’s UEFA Champions League, which generates more than twice the revenue per fan.

Studies by SportsInvest Advisory show a major gap in fan monetization, with the EuroLeague's current market alignment falling short. The top five European markets account for ~85% of total sports media rights value, yet fewer than half of EuroLeague teams are based in those countries.

Structurally, European basketball is underrepresented in key markets like France and the UK and concentrated mostly in Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe.

With better alignment and commercial focus, European basketball could generate up to 3-4x higher revenues, leveraging its strong culture, loyal fan base, and elite level of play.

A unique moment: time for a reset?

There is now a significant opportunity to harmonize the European basketball ecosystem.

Recent developments suggest this shift may already be underway.

The NBA has been actively exploring its options in Europe, weighing whether to go solo or partner with existing players. A new professional league could serve as a platform to bring structure, scale, and global visibility to European basketball.

What it could look like:

👉 An NBA-owned European league, launching as early as 2026–2027
👉 Targeting key markets like Paris, London, and Munich
👉 Partnering with existing football powerhouses to build multi-sport franchises
👉 Backed by institutional capital, following the model used to launch the Basketball Africa League (BAL) in 2021, which involved Helios Fairfax Partners and featured 12 top clubs from across Africa

Just last month, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis confirmed ongoing discussions around a new European professional men’s league following the NBA Board of Governors meeting.

European basketball might just be the biggest untapped opportunity in global sports today. A unified and commercially viable league—backed by the NBA, aligned with FIBA, and rooted in Europe’s strongest markets—could unlock immense value for fans, players, and investors alike.

The time to act is now.