Barcelona confirmed this Thursday what it expressed last week in the telematic meeting it held with the rest of the founding partners and owners of the European competition. “The Board of Directors has agreed to ratify the extension of the participation license of the first men’s basketball team in the Euroleague for the next 10 seasons (until the 2036-37 season), a competition of which it is a co-founding partner. The Board of Directors reaffirms its desire to always participate in the best existing competitions,” the Barça club explained in a statement. The entity chaired by Joan Laporta thus rules out, for now, its participation in the European NBA that intends to see the light of day in 2027.
The Euroleague has 13 owners with a fixed and secured license so far. Ten of them have renewed the contract that ends this summer for 10 more years, the same connection that unites the tournament with the sponsorship of IMG. They are Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Barcelona, Maccabi, Zalgiris, Baskonia, Efes, Olimpia Milano, Bayern, CSKA, although the Russian team has its place frozen due to sanctions derived from the conflict in Ukraine. The remaining three, Real Madrid, Fenerbahçe and Asvel, had until this past Thursday, January 15, to renew under the same conditions as the rest, like Barcelona, or, otherwise, move towards individual negotiations until the legal end of the contract, on June 30 of this year.
The key now to the conflict between the NBA and the Euroleague is the position of Real Madrid, which has taken steps towards the American League. However, three big clubs from the white team (Berserkers, Ojos del Tigre and La Gran Familia) issued this Monday and were leaving the Euroleague. “Our commitment is to a basketball in Europe in which we can face historical teams with a basketball tradition. And, today, that is not the approach that the NBA Europe project seems to offer in which, of the current Euroleague, only Real Madrid would be. Going alone to this new competition would be a mistake… Real Madrid must always play in the highest continental competition and that, today, cannot be offered by the NBA Europe project. It generates more shadows than lights in the sporting aspect and the economic one,” expressed the fans.
