NBA plans the New Europe League to reward success, Turkish clubs in focus

GAs part of a planned NBA Europa League, Eorge Aivazoglou, Managing Director of NBA Europe and the Middle East, showed a strong interest in Turkish basketball clubs that aim to change the landscape of European basketball.

In an interview with the Anadolu agency, Aivazoglou divided details of the vision and structure behind the new league, which are intended to reward the stay of the sporting merits and create a more integrative, competitive environment on the entire continent.

Türkiye a strategic market for the European expansion of the NBA

Aivazoglou underlined the importance of Türkiye and explained: “We are very interested in Tierkiye as a market for the new league project in Europe. We are very interested in Istanbul as a city.”

He expressly praised large clubs such as Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, Anadolu Efes and Besiktas.

Reward of the earnings about the brand: “That doesn't happen in football”

Aivazoglou criticized the current Euroleague system for the exclusion of National Champions and quoted the domestic success of Galatasaray as an example. “Even if Galatasaray wins the Turkish championship, it cannot participate in the top cup in Europe. This does not happen in football … We want to fix it.”

Productive conversations with Turkish clubs

The NBA manager confirmed that he had met with officials from various Turkish clubs, including a meeting with the President of the Fenerbahce President Ali Koc during a board meeting in Istanbul.

“It was a great opportunity to meet all clubs and some owners … The general feeling was very positive.”

Aivazoglou emphasized the openness to the collaboration: “We are very open to working with everyone in the ecosystem that wants to become a partner and want to contribute to this vision.”

A three-path entry system for accession to the league

In order to ensure diversity and opportunities, Aivazoglou said that the league would allow access over three routes:

Voluntary participation of existing basketball clubs
Football clubs that form new basketball teams
Completely new franchise

He emphasized that the inclusion on earnings and ongoing research would be based: “We evaluate all options in the course of the research phase.”

No teams from the Middle East, focus strictly on Europe

Aivazoglou excluded the admission of clubs in the Middle East: “We want our league to be a European league in a geographical sense. Therefore, a club from the Middle East will not be in the league.”

New structure that appreciates success, transparency

The league is expected to start with 16 permanent teams together with annual rotating teams from the wider ecosystem. “We imagine a pyramid that is transparent, rewarded success and is based on earnings,” said Aivazoglou.

He added that the league would respect European traditions, play styles and fan culture: “We are not trying to copy the American model. This will be a European project that is built for European fans.”

May 03, 2025 10:42 GMT+03: 00