Plans for a major new European basketball league backed by the NBA are being propelled forward with the help of a prominent investor in Liverpool Football Club, City AM can exclusively reveal.
RedBird Takes Centre Stage in NBA Venture
RedBird Capital Partners, the US investment firm which holds stakes in Liverpool FC and owns Italian football titans AC Milan, is actively collaborating with the National Basketball Association on its ambitious project to establish a professional league in Europe. The firm played a leading role at an exclusive summit in London today, aimed at attracting potential investors and commercial partners for the venture.
Gerry Cardinale, RedBird's founder and managing partner, and the firm's operating partner, football icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic, were both featured speakers. Cardinale addressed a session titled “The Impact of NBA Europe”, while Ibrahimovic participated in a fireside chat focusing on the NBA's cultural influence. RedBird manages an estimated $14 billion in assets.
League Structure and Multi-Billion Pound Franchises
The proposed competition, tentatively named NBA Europe, is currently slated for a launch in late 2027. The league blueprint envisions 16 teams, with a semi-open structure featuring 12 permanent member clubs and four qualification spots open annually.
Major European capitals and cities have been pencilled in to host teams, including London and Manchester in the UK, as well as Paris, Milan, Rome, Berlin, and Munich. The NBA and its financial advisors, JP Morgan and the Raine Group, are reportedly seeking an entry price for franchises of between $500 million and $1 billion.
Sources close to the situation indicate that RedBird itself is “very interested” in acquiring one of the new franchises. Given its existing ownership of AC Milan, the Italian fashion capital is viewed as the most likely location for a RedBird-backed team.
RedBird's Vast Sports Portfolio and Telegraph Stakes
The New York-based firm's extensive sports holdings provide significant heft to the NBA initiative. RedBird has been an indirect owner of Liverpool FC since 2021 through its minority stake in Fenway Sports Group (FSG). That same FSG investment also gives it interests in Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox and the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins.
RedBird acquired AC Milan in 2022 and appointed the retired Ibrahimovic to its board in 2023. Its foray into media saw the RedBird IMI joint venture acquire Telegraph Media Group in 2023, though a subsequent attempt by RedBird Capital Partners to take control was blocked by the UK government. A deal to sell the Telegraph to the Daily Mail's parent company, DMGT, was agreed last month and is now in progress.
The high-profile London summit follows the NBA's successful regular-season game at The O2 Arena on Sunday night, the league's first in the capital for seven years, underscoring its commitment to expanding its European footprint.
