The NBA is preparing to build one of its biggest new businesses outside the United States, but the players’ union already sees a problem with how that money could be shared.
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NBA Europe is targeted to launch in the fall of 2027 as a joint NBA-FIBA project, with a planned 16-team structure that would include permanent clubs and annual qualification spots. The league’s commercial framework is still being built, with JPMorgan and the Raine Group helping the NBA assess investors and potential franchise values.
But NBPA executive director David Kelly says NBA players cannot be left out of the economics of a competition built on the value they have created for the NBA. “It’s clearly being built on the backs of current NBA players, and prior NBA players, on the whole cachet that they brought to this league,” Kelly told Front Office Sports. “And then to start a rival league that they do not participate in, participate in the economics of, we have a very serious problem with that.”
The dispute centers on how NBA Europe would fit into the NBA’s existing Basketball Related Income system. Under the current CBA, revenue generated by a separate international operating league does not automatically enter the domestic BRI pool, meaning players do not automatically receive the same share they receive from NBA basketball-related income.
“Like right now we get 51% of basketball-related income from the NBA,” Kelly said. “NBA Europe, should it be 51%? No. Should it be zero? Of course not.”
That distinction matters because NBA Europe is expected to generate money through media rights, sponsorships, ticketing, licensing and franchise buy-in fees. The franchise fees alone have been reported at between $500 million and $1 billion per team, although the league’s final commercial structure has not been finalized.
The current CBA runs through June 30, 2030, but either the NBA or NBPA can opt out by serving written notice on or before October 15, 2028. If either side does so, the agreement would terminate on June 30, 2029.
That timing could make NBA Europe an important issue in the next round of labor negotiations. The league is targeted to begin one year before the opt-out deadline, meaning the players’ union could have a year of NBA Europe operating data before deciding how to approach the next CBA.
NBA Europe is not the only financial issue Kelly wants to revisit. The NBPA also remains strongly opposed to the second salary-cap apron introduced in the 2023 CBA.
“We are no fan of the second apron,” Kelly said. “I would say there is no fan of the second apron. Maybe there’s 30 or 31, if you include Adam.” Kelly argues the apron has gone beyond competitive balance and has become a form of cost control for teams.
Kelly argues that competitive balance was already strong before the second apron was introduced.
“We had a very good system that was working,” Kelly said. “I think parity was the excuse that was used to put in something that’s really about cost control.”
Silver has defended the league’s approach around competitive balance, arguing that teams of different market sizes should have a similar opportunity to compete.
“The goal, in essence, is that every team, regardless of market size, has a roughly equal chance to compete, and to run a rational business,” Silver said in October 2024.
The financial restrictions have already changed how teams approach their rosters. Denver’s August sign-and-trade of Peyton Watson to Cleveland is one example. Watson agreed to a four-year, $88 million contract with the Cavaliers, while Denver received draft compensation and did not take back a player salary in the deal.
Denver’s payroll was already around $220 million, and keeping Watson on his new contract would have pushed the team above the second apron and exposed the team to roughly $238 million in luxury-tax penalties, helping explain why the Nuggets chose to move a young player rather than add his salary to the roster.
NBA Europe Is Still Taking Shape
The current plan calls for 16 teams, with 12 expected to receive permanent spots and four places available through annual qualification routes tied to European competition. The structure is still provisional, however, and the final teams, ownership groups and commercial agreements have not been finalized.
More than 20 entities have reportedly submitted bids or expressed interest, with London, Manchester, Paris, Madrid, Milan and other major European markets among those being considered. The reported ownership interest remains part of an evolving process rather than a finalized franchise list.
What remains unclear is how NBA Europe revenue will be treated under the current player-compensation system. The NBA has not publicly announced a framework for sharing the new league’s revenue with current players, and it has not issued a public response to Kelly’s latest comments.
Kelly said the union and league have not formally negotiated NBA Europe revenue sharing yet.
“There’s just pleasant conversations at this point in time laying out some of what our issues are,” Kelly said. “But when it comes time to actually negotiate the CBA, we are very firm on some of the things that are important, and that need to change.”
NBA Europe is expected to launch before the current CBA’s October 15, 2028, opt-out deadline. If either side exercises the opt-out, the agreement would end on June 30, 2029.
For now, the economics of NBA Europe remain unresolved. The NBA is still building the league’s commercial structure, while the NBPA has made clear that it does not believe players should receive nothing from a venture built on the value of the NBA and its players. With the league targeted to launch in 2027 and the CBA opt-out deadline arriving in October 2028, the issue could become one of the first major financial questions of the next labor negotiations.