EuroLeague Owners Meet at Lake Como Summit Amid NBA Acquisition Talks
The calm of Lake Como is about to host one of European basketball’s stormier conversations.
According to Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, a select group of EuroLeague club owners will gather on October 5 at the historic Villa d'Este in Cernobbio, a venue more accustomed to heads of state and captains of industry than to the men steering Europe’s top basketball competition. When the owners meet, it usually means the stakes are high. This time, they are enormous.
At the heart of the agenda lies a topic that would have been unthinkable a decade ago: a potential offer from the NBA to acquire the EuroLeague. Not a partnership, not a loose collaboration. An acquisition.
This isn’t the usual stakeholders’ board session, where calendars and minor regulations get ironed out. Owner-level summits are rare, reserved for questions that cut into the very structure of the competition. That is exactly what’s on the table: the future ownership model of the EuroLeague, the possibility of a shift toward a full franchise system, and the shape of the league’s expansion in the coming years.
If the NBA steps in, the balance of power in global club basketball could tilt overnight. The EuroLeague has long prided itself on being the premier competition outside North America, with its own identity, rivalries, and traditions. Any sale would raise blunt questions. Who really controls European basketball’s flagship? What happens to promotion, relegation pressures, and the link—however fragile—to domestic leagues?
For some owners, the security and commercial muscle of an NBA-backed franchise model will sound irresistible. For others, it will feel like handing over the keys to a century of European basketball culture. Villa d’Este will hear all of it.
Milan Aiming for a Final Four Homecoming
While the boardroom battles unfold, another race is quietly shaping the map of future Final Fours.
La Gazzetta dello Sport also reports that Milan has officially entered the bidding to host the 2030 EuroLeague Final Four. The plan is clear: stage the showpiece in the new Unipol Dome in the Santa Giulia district, a modern arena designed to anchor the city’s next sporting era.
Milan knows what a Final Four can do for its profile. In 2014, the city welcomed the continent’s elite and watched as underdogs Maccabi Tel Aviv stunned heavily favored Real Madrid in one of the competition’s most memorable upsets. That weekend still lingers in EuroLeague folklore. A 2030 return, this time in a brand-new building, would mark a full-circle moment.
They won’t get a free run. Valencia are also in the frame, strongly positioned to land the 2028 Final Four at the recently opened Roig Arena. The Spanish club’s modern venue and growing basketball project make it a natural candidate for the event, and current indications point to 2028 being their year.
The broader roadmap is already partially locked in. The 2027 and 2029 Final Fours are tied to an existing agreement with Abu Dhabi, meaning both editions will take place in the United Arab Emirates. That commitment underlines EuroLeague’s ongoing push into new markets and signals how aggressively the competition is chasing global relevance.
So the picture is forming: Abu Dhabi in 2027, likely Valencia in 2028, Abu Dhabi again in 2029—and a straight fight between Milan and Valencia’s long-term positioning for 2030 and beyond.
All of that, though, sits downstream from the real decision looming over Lake Como. If the NBA steps into the ownership structure and a franchise model takes hold, what will a EuroLeague Final Four even look like by 2030—and who will truly be calling the shots?
