Business
The NBA is pursuing ownership groups for a potential basketball league in Europe
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a news conference following a meeting of the NBA’s board of governors at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, July 15, 2025.
Chase Stevens | Las Vegas Review-journal | Getty Images
The NBA is looking to Europe for its next stage of growth.
The league announced on Monday that it will move forward with a joint exploration of a new professional men’s league in Europe, in partnership with the International Basketball Federation, also called FIBA. The NBA said it plans to start the process of engaging with prospective teams and ownership groups in January.
Franchise values could be upward of a $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to speak about details that haven’t been made public yet.
At the NBA Cup last week in Las Vegas, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said JPMorgan and the Raine Group have been actively meeting with interested parties in Europe and that there is a lot of “positive interest” in moving forward.
The bankers have met with at least 70 potential investors, sources told CNBC. Discussions began about a year and a half ago. The goal is to take nonbinding bids next month and vote on green-lighting the league at the board of governors meeting in March, sources said.
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum has said previously that the league is contemplating potential ownership by sovereign wealth funds. The NBA is also engaging current European soccer club owners.
The league first announced the exploration of a men’s basketball league in Europe last March.
“Our conversations with various stakeholders in Europe have reinforced our belief that an enormous opportunity exists around the creation of a new league on the continent,” Silver said in a release Monday. “Together with FIBA, we look forward to engaging prospective clubs and ownership groups that share our vision for the game’s potential in Europe.”
The NBA said it will also provide financial support and resources to European basketball. It plans to invest in domestic leagues and development across FIBA’s existing programs to create a pipeline of coaches, players and referees, according to the Monday release.
The NBA estimates there are 270 million potential basketball fans in Europe, calling it an “untapped market.” This year, on opening night, the NBA had 71 European-born players. Some of league’s biggest stars — Victor Wembanyama, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić — hail from Europe.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs celebrates after a 131-121 victory against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena in Washington, Feb. 10, 2025.
Greg Fiume | Getty Images
The NBA said basketball is the fastest-growing sport in Europe and the No. 2 sport behind only soccer. The league said the timing is perfect, as last season was the NBA’s most watched across the league’s social and digital channels.
The NBA believes the current European basketball market is undervalued and lacks teams in marquee cities, according to a source familiar with the matter. Two-thirds of teams in the already established EuroLeague lose money, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The NBA would be looking to bring teams to Berlin, Paris, Rome and London, according to the source. It is also considering Spain, Turkey and Greece.
If the NBA moves forward with the league, it could begin bringing exhibition teams to play in Europe in the near term. Eventually, there could even be NBA teams competing against European teams in a cup-style or all-star type event.
FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis said the announcement is great news for European basketball and its fans.
“The project is conceived in a way that will improve the sustainability of the entire European basketball ecosystem, including players, clubs, leagues and national federations, by generating a knock-on effect that will strongly benefit basketball fans throughout Europe,” he said in a statement.
The NBA just completed the fifth season of its African League, also in partnership with FIBA. The league said it has grown every year in attendance, merchandise sales and social engagement.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the potential franchise value of teams.
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Trump nominates Erica Schwartz as CDC director amid turmoil around leadership, vaccine policy
Rear Admiral Erica G. Schwartz.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Erica Schwartz to serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, concluding a monthslong effort to choose a permanent leader of the embattled health agency.
Schwartz, who will have to be confirmed by the Senate, would take over the role as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. oversees a string of controversial health policy changes at the agency, including an overhaul of childhood vaccine recommendations.
Schwartz served as deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration, where she played a major role in the U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic. She spent more than 20 year in uniform, including as rear admiral and chief medical officer of the Coast Guard.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya had been acting director of the CDC — a title that expired last month under federal law. That law, called the Vacancies Act, limits the amount of time an acting officer can serve in place of a Senate-confirmed official to 210 days.
Late last month marked 210 days since the most recent CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez, was fired.
A sign sits outside of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Roybal campus in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 18, 2026.
Megan Varner | Reuters
She has so far been the only person to serve as a confirmed CDC director during Trump’s second term, holding the role for under a month last summer. In congressional testimony in September, Monarez said she was fired after refusing Kennedy’s demands to approve vaccine recommendations she believed lacked scientific support.
It is unclear how Schwartz’s views on vaccines or other key public health policies compare with Kennedy’s.
Also on Thursday, Trump said he chose Sean Slovenski as deputy CDC director and chief operating officer, and Jennifer Shuford as deputy CDC director and chief medical officer. Shuford, as head of the Texas Department of State Health Services, led the state’s response to a massive measles outbreak last year, and credited vaccination and testing in declaring it over.
Schwartz’s nomination comes after a tumultuous several months for the agency, which is reeling from the leadership upheaval, plummeting morale, significant staff turnover and controversial changes to U.S. vaccine policy. Ahead of leadership departures last year, staff members were shaken by a gunman’s attack on the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters on Aug. 8.
Last month, a judge blocked a critical vaccine panel’s efforts to overhaul U.S. immunization policy. That includes an effort to reduce the number of recommended childhood shots from 17 to 11.
Trust in federal health agencies has plummeted during Kennedy’s tenure as Health and Human Services secretary, according to a February poll from health policy research group KFF, with declines across the political spectrum.
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