{"id":438106,"date":"2025-04-15T09:19:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T07:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=438106"},"modified":"2025-04-15T09:19:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T07:19:06","slug":"euroleagues-future-key-decisions-coming-as-nba-eyes-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/euroleagues-future-key-decisions-coming-as-nba-eyes-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"EuroLeague\u2019s Future: Key Decisions Coming as NBA Eyes Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a turbulent European basketball landscape, with the looming\u2014but still undefined\u2014threat of <em>NBA Europe<\/em>, EuroLeague Basketball is moving to define its own 2025\u201326 season. A board meeting is expected between late April and early May, and time is of the essence.<\/p>\n<p>Among the priorities: confirming the number of teams\u201418 or expanding to 20\u2014and finalizing the list of participating clubs. For teams like Virtus Bologna, that decision is critical.<\/p>\n<h3>Who\u2019s Already In?<\/h3>\n<p>Putting aside the NBA Europe question and the persistent interest from clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona, the current EuroLeague structure includes 12 licensed clubs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anadolu Efes (Turkey)<\/li>\n<li>Baskonia (Spain)<\/li>\n<li>Olimpia Milano (Italy)<\/li>\n<li>Barcelona (Spain)<\/li>\n<li>Bayern Munich (Germany)<\/li>\n<li>Fenerbahce (Turkey)<\/li>\n<li>ASVEL Villeurbanne (France)<\/li>\n<li>Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)<\/li>\n<li>Olympiacos (Greece)<\/li>\n<li>Panathinaikos (Greece)<\/li>\n<li>Real Madrid (Spain)<\/li>\n<li>Zalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They will be joined by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)<\/strong> \u2013 2024\u201325 EuroCup champions<\/li>\n<li><strong>Monaco (France)<\/strong> \u2013 secured qualification via EuroLeague playoffs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That brings the count to 14 confirmed teams. Four spots remain open\u2014under heavy negotiation.<\/p>\n<h3>Wild Card Race: Four Open Slots<\/h3>\n<p>EuroLeague is considering awarding <strong>three-year wild cards<\/strong>. <strong>Partizan Belgrade<\/strong>, <strong>Crvena Zvezda<\/strong>, and <strong>Paris Basketball<\/strong> are already far along in talks and close to confirmed according with Sportando sources. These entries would carry a reported cost of \u20ac5 million over three seasons.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves <strong>one remaining slot<\/strong>, with multiple contenders:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Virtus Bologna<\/strong> \u2013 recent EuroLeague playoff experience, stable structure, and new arena project<\/li>\n<li><strong>Valencia Basket<\/strong> \u2013 multiple EuroLeague appearances<\/li>\n<li><strong>ALBA Berlin<\/strong> \u2013 regular past participant<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dubai Basketball<\/strong> \u2013 a new and ambitious project, aiming for direct entry after a year in the ABA League<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If the league sticks with <strong>18 teams<\/strong>, only one of these clubs gets in. But with a potential <strong>expansion to 20<\/strong>, more doors open\u2014particularly for Virtus Bologna.<\/p>\n<h3>Format Concerns: 18 vs. 20 Teams<\/h3>\n<p>While expansion may offer commercial benefits and broader reach, it also raises logistical challenges. A 20-team EuroLeague means <strong>38 regular season games<\/strong>, something difficult to accommodate within current domestic and international calendars\u2014especially in leagues like Spain\u2019s ACB, which already plays 34 games.<\/p>\n<p>Some EuroLeague stakeholders are reluctant to give up the single round-robin format that defines the competition today according with Sportando sources.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Scenarios<\/h3>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udd12 EuroLeague with 18 teams:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>14 confirmed +<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Paris (wild card)<\/li>\n<li>Crvena Zvezda (wild card)<\/li>\n<li>Partizan (wild card)<\/li>\n<li>1 spot TBD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83c\udd95 EuroLeague with 20 teams:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Add 3 more wild cards\u2014likely among:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Virtus Bologna<\/li>\n<li>Dubai<\/li>\n<li>Valencia<\/li>\n<li>ALBA Berlin<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What&#8217;s Next?<\/h3>\n<p>EuroLeague\u2019s leadership must finalize its plans <strong>in the coming weeks<\/strong>, balancing tradition, commercial growth, and increasing pressure from the NBA\u2019s expansion ambitions. <em>NBA Europe<\/em>, with a proposed 16-team league, is already in discussion stages with FIBA and major investors. The window is small\u2014but decisive.<\/p>\n<p>The European basketball ecosystem is entering a key turning point. How EuroLeague responds will shape the game\u2019s future on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EuroLeague Basketball is moving to define its own 2025\u201326 season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":438105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[199],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-438106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-euroleague"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/04\/EuroLeague.png","digistream_id":0,"digistream":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438106"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=438106"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=438106"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=438106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}