Talk has resumed about AC Milan and Inter being interested in the NBA Europe project. As La Gazzetta dello Sport headlines: “Milan and Inter want to cooperate with the NBA for a team in Milan. A decision will come in two months.” It should be noted that in recent days La Stampa also discussed it after previews from ROM and Sportando.
As Luca Bianchin, Gazzetta’s AC Milan beat writer, and Davide Chinellato, the paper’s correspondent in England and NBA expert, put it: “Milan and Inter aspire to have a role in a Milan-based franchise that the NBA is determined to launch. Not bad as news for a quiet October week. The plan isn’t entirely new, but in recent days the NBA has clearly shifted gears.”
The project is slated to start in fall 2027; and when we talk about Milan and Inter, we mainly mean RedBird and Oaktree, the funds that own Milan and Inter respectively.
Gazzetta adds: “Commissioner Adam Silver has long been speaking with Gerry Cardinale, founder of RedBird, which owns Milan, about Milan. Inter, with Oaktree, has the file on the table and is just as interested in the nascent business.”
And regarding Olimpia Milano: “It’s definitely too early to know how it will end, also because Olimpia Milano and the Armani group—intent on continuing in basketball even after the passing of ‘King Giorgio’—will play a central role.”
Costs would also be extremely high: “Entering the league will cost €250–500 million (a lot). Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Fenerbahçe, according to reports, are almost certain to join.”
Speaking of Milan: “Two days ago Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, was a guest at RedBird’s general assembly in New York, attended by president Paolo Scaroni, CEO Giorgio Furlani and advisor Zlatan Ibrahimović. A well-established relationship.”
And on Inter: “Inter can count on Oaktree, headquartered in Los Angeles, and it fears no comparisons in terms of financial resources and contacts. It is interested and will certainly play its cards: at Viale della Liberazione they are aware that the basketball dossier is one of the big themes for the near future.”
In fact, these are all rumors and everything remains open: “Will the new franchise be an alternative to Olimpia, or will the two entities—one historic, one brand new—become one? Nobody knows, not even the NBA. What is certain is that the next two months will be decisive. The revolution is around the corner.”
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