The Lewis family, owners of Tottenham Hotspur, is exploring a bid for the future London franchise in NBA Europe, the new competition jointly created by the NBA and FIBA. If successful, it would mark the family’s first major investment outside soccer since acquiring Tottenham in 2001.
The Lewis family controls 70.12% of ENIC, Tottenham’s parent company, which owns an 87.62% stake in the Premier League club. The family’s interests are now primarily represented by Vivienne Lewis, daughter of founder Joe Lewis, and her husband Nick Beucher, co-CEO of Tavistock Group.
Joe Lewis stepped down as a person with significant control of Tottenham in 2022. In 2024 he pleaded guilty to insider trading in the United States, receiving a $5 million fine, before being granted a presidential pardon by Donald Trump the following year.
For the NBA Europe project, the Lewis family has teamed up with the Checketts and Eccles families, both well-known sports investors. David Checketts previously served as general manager of the Utah Jazz and president of the New York Knicks, while the Eccles family owns stakes in Burnley and Espanyol.
NBA Europe is expected to launch in 2027 with 12 permanent franchises and four additional clubs qualifying each season. London is one of the target markets alongside Manchester, Paris, Madrid, Berlin and Milan.
According to The Athletic, a separate consortium led by technology billionaire Nikesh Arora is also preparing a bid worth more than $1 billion for the London franchise. The redeveloped Battersea Power Station site has emerged as a potential location for the team’s future arena.
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