By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Reports surfaced Thursday stating that the NBA and FIBA have been in talks for the creation of a European NBA league, namely NBA Europe.
FIBA sources confirmed Thursday that, following an invitation to the President and CEO of Euroleague Basketball and also to the shareholders of ECA, a meeting was held in mid-September to discuss the unification of European Basketball. However, the topic of the creation of NBA Europe was never on the table.
Euroleague Basketball also released a statement, confirming a meeting between executives of FIBA, NBA, and EB, and also clarifying that the creation of NBA Europe was not among the topics discussed in said meeting. In their statement, EuroLeague Basketball also denies reports of EuroLeague CEO Jordi Bertomeu receiving a letter from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver informing him of the plan and his intention to establish this new league.
Per EuroLeague’s statement:
In light of the recent stories published by different media outlets, and originally by Spanish newspaper Marca, Euroleague Basketball wants to clarify the following.
•As has been confirmed by both NBA and FIBA, executives of the three parties (FIBA, NBA and EB) met in Madrid in September to agree on identifying areas of collaboration and synergies to join efforts to grow basketball’s popularity in Europe.
•The topics discussed in the meeting never included the creation of an NBA division in Europe.
•No other meetings have been held to discuss the abovementioned topic.
•Euroleague Basketball CEO Jordi Bertomeu has not received any letter from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, as was wrongly reported by Marca.
Euroleague Basketball and its clubs remain committed to continuing to work with FIBA, the NBA and every other stakeholder to grow the sport of basketball.