Adam Silver: “We want to bring our basketball style and from April to today we have had several construction conversations. The Olympic tournament would be a good launching pad”
With the NBA that rewards Oklahoma City, a city that has made an incredible upgrade in the last 20 years thanks also and above all to the economic impact brought by the Thunders, building a new playground for the Boys and Girls Club of Okc, the event becomes an opportunity for a chat with the commissioner Adam Silver on the much discussed potential creation of an NBA League in Europe. A project that had an accelerated in the spring, marked of the post meeting press conference of the NBA owners of Silver and the general secretary of the Fiba Andreas Zagklis. “I consider this project a sort of ‘expansion’ as it is done when it comes to new NBA franchises, we want to bring our basketball style to Europe. We have been making assessments for several months, we have recently discussed directly with the Euroleague and of course we are talking to several clubs to try to create a partnership. Our preference would be to work with an already existing league but in any case we think there is a great opportunity for a great opportunity for a great opportunity for a great opportunity for a League supported by the NBA capable of satisfying the many European fans “.
So are you also considering also a partnership with the Euroleague?
“Yes, from April to today we have had several construction conversations with the leaders of the Euroleague, we will see what will happen”.
What times are you giving you for the departure of this League?
“We are at the beginning of the process, it is not easy to discuss a timeline, let’s say that one might think of a departure in a couple of years. We want to move with a quick step but of course we also have the intention to consult and compare ourselves with the various alloys, the different teams, the European players, our partners both at the marketing level and on average. We are working but we know that there is still a lot to do. Angeles from 2028 could be a good idea, the basketball Olympic tournament will attract global attention and in fact it could be an excellent springboard for the European League “.
The Euroleague opens in Dubai, you have a privileged relationship with Abu Dhabi, could there be room for a team of the Persian Gulf in your European League?
“In recent years we have played NBA preset games in Abu Dhabi and we know that there is great interest in basketball in the Middle East and in particular in the Persian Gulf. We will certainly discuss with potential investors of these countries that, however, are already present in different top -level European football teams. We also think that over time then there could also be the opportunity to expand us out of Europe, in the Middle East”.
At what point are the discussions for those that could become new franchises of the European League in the city such as London, Manchester, Monaco and Rome?
“We have not yet had direct conversations, but several organizations are contacting us and they say they are interested in creating teams for the European League in these markets”.
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