EuroLeague expansion to 24 teams by 2027-28: €700 million frenzy for three remaining slots

€700 million. That is the reported amount of binding financial commitments that 11 applicants have submitted to EuroLeague for the right to take part in the competition’s future, according to a report in Italian media. More than 20 other organizations have also formally expressed interest. Despite the huge impression it makes, this is only the visible part of an unprecedented transformation. The real story is not about record money; it is about the structure of power and how EuroLeague will shape its future while the NBA stands at the edge of the arena. In the coming weeks, EuroLeague shareholders are expected to meet at Lake Como to choose one of two directions. The first path is the Transformative Strategic Plan initiated by CEO Chus Bueno, aiming at building a self-contained EuroLeague with global commercial value. The second path is to open the door to NBA capital and influence, with a formal approach potentially arriving after the NBA Board of Governors meeting. Seasoned executives know that whichever side is chosen, the structure of European club basketball will be changed forever. The plan that has drawn the most attention in investment circles is expanding EuroLeague to 24 teams beginning in the 2027-28 season. Sources say 21 permanent slots are effectively locked, meaning only three openings remain for new teams. This scarcity not only pushes the price of each slot to a new level but also makes the competition among investors far more brutal than the public-friendly image of an 'expanding league'. Before anyone could even name it, I saw its skeleton: an NBA-style franchise dream growing in the heart of Europe. The selection process has been intense. At first, more than 20 entities submitted statements of interest. After screening, 11 names moved into deep due diligence. The biggest leap comes at the end: those 11 applicants are believed to have made binding offers totaling roughly €700 million for participation fees alone. That amount does not yet include the future investment each owner would be expected to make in rosters, infrastructure and media operations. Behind the committed financing is a far more ambitious long-term goal. The Italian report mentions a plan to inject a combined €3.2 billion into the EuroLeague ecosystem and expects the enterprise value of the league to reach €4.3 billion by 2027. If that happens, EuroLeague would move close to an NBA-style closed model – one in which broadcast rights, salaries and media empires sit in the hands of a small group of owners. However, there is a striking paradox right inside the numbers. If 21 permanent slots are locked for the 2027-28 season, with a 24-team league the number of genuinely vacant seats drops to three. So what about earlier reports that 'eight new teams' were set to join? It is possible those new slots may be short-term or special licenses. This inconsistency is not minor; it reflects a restructuring plan that has yet to settle on a single architecture, with every number now released serving a negotiating position. Having followed European basketball for more than two decades, I know power games of this kind rarely work the way the public sees them. What people call instinct, I call encoded traces. The €700 million frenzy looks like a vote of confidence, but in reality it can be used as leverage for EuroLeague to raise its price in negotiations with the NBA: if the European group succeeds in raising hundreds of millions of euros on its own, the American offer will need to be more generous. Conversely, if the situation collapses, investors can always ask for more favorable terms before paying up. It is worth stressing that all of this information currently comes from only one source, vaguely described as Italian media, with no outlet named. Figures such as €700 million or 21 secured slots still await independent confirmation by EuroLeague Basketball. The history of sports business is full of ambitious plans leaked to build pressure before a major negotiation. So keep a cautious distance, even though the trend behind these numbers looks reasonably clear. To an analyst, tactics are not there to be read, but to see two moves ahead. What interests me is not merely who will land the last three seats; it is whether EuroLeague can preserve its sporting identity as global finance swirls around it. The upcoming NBA Board of Governors meeting and Lake Como summit will reveal the next move. Whatever the choice, the 2027-28 EuroLeague season will not look like any season staged before it.