NBA’s new European league will feature 16 teams with potential Oct. 2027 launch
The New York Times | Nov. 7, 2025 | Joe Vardon

The NBA is formally targeting an October 2027 launch date for its new European League and its list of preferred team cities in the new venture include London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens, and Istanbul.

Speaking at a Football Business Forum in Milan hosted by Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday, George Aivazoglou, managing director for the NBA’s European and Middle East offices, cited those cities as well as Manchester (U.K.) and Lyon (France) as targeted locations for permanent members of commissioner Adam Silver’s league, which Aivazoglou said is headed toward a tip off in about 23 months, though October 2027 is not yet finalized.

Aivazoglou also said the new league — we’ll see if it is going to be called NBA Europe — would be a 16-team league with the last four teams competing via play-in, either through FIBA’s Champions League or a domestic league.

And finally, Aivazoglou suggested the NBA’s European teams would likely play against the big boys, the NBA, in a tournament. (This arrangement would need to be negotiated with the NBA Players Association, either in a new CBA or as an amendment to the existing one).

“It would be a new competition bringing together NBA and NBA Europe teams — down the line, an NBA Cup format with American and European teams, or a tournament like last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup — as part of an increasingly integrated framework,” Aivazoglou said at the conference, according to the audio of his remarks obtained by The Athletic.