The NBA’s planned expansion into Europe is beginning to attract heavyweight private equity interest, with Apollo Global Management, Ares Management and Sixth Street all reportedly in discussions to support the launch of a new European basketball league.
According to reports from Cinco Días and The Athletic, the talks are still in early stages but centre on two key investment opportunities: funding the creation of the league structure itself, and acquiring stakes in new franchise teams expected to be based in major European cities.
The NBA is understood to be targeting at least $500 million per franchise entry fee, signalling a high-valuation model similar to North American league expansion economics. NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum has previously confirmed strong interest from both investors and potential franchise partners for permanent entry into the proposed competition.
The involvement of Apollo, Ares and Sixth Street also highlights how deeply connected the project is becoming to football’s existing financial ecosystem. Apollo Global Management has recently become the majority owner of Atlético de Madrid, while Ares also holds a minority stake in the Spanish club. Sixth Street, meanwhile, has established commercial partnerships with both Real Madrid and Barcelona through stadium and broadcasting-related agreements.
That crossover is central to the NBA’s strategy in Europe: leveraging investors already embedded in elite sports infrastructure to accelerate market entry.
However, concerns remain among some European clubs regarding the financial structure of the proposed league. According to Bloomberg, the NBA model would allocate roughly 45% of revenues to teams and 45% to the league, with the remainder split between FIBA and future partners — a structure some stakeholders view as less favourable compared to existing European football models, where governing bodies typically take a far smaller share of competition revenues.
As negotiations continue, the project is shaping up not just as a sporting expansion, but as a high-stakes investment battle over the future structure of elite European basketball.