EuroLeague CEO Chus Bueno has transformed an organisation that was in deep crisis into one positioned to fight the NBA over the future of European basketball.
Bueno, a former NBA vice president, was elected EuroLeague chief executive in January amid what many described as the most serious existential threat in the competition’s history.
His appointment initially prompted fears that EuroLeague would capitulate to the NBA’s multibillion-dollar plans to launch a rival top-tier European competition as early as autumn 2027.
Those concerns have since been overtaken by events, as Bueno moved swiftly to lock all 13 member clubs into 10-year deals under a new franchise model designed to secure lasting loyalty.
Clubs including Real Madrid and Barcelona, whose premium brands and vast fanbases could make or break either project, are now committed to EuroLeague’s vision for the next decade.
Central to that vision is a plan to raise 3bn euros in fresh capital through the sale of expansion franchises, including in London, and to grow the league from 20 to 24 teams from 2027.
“It has been a very, very busy few months since I took the job, but today we’re very happy,” Bueno told City AM. “I can say that we have never been better. We’re stronger, we’re together for 10 years, and the teams want to move to franchises, which means forever together.”
Bueno has also outlined plans to build a new media platform encompassing streaming subscriptions, betting, merchandise, and ticketing, with the league opening its data room to prospective franchisees this week.
Investor appetite appears strong, with Bueno reporting more than 20 franchise bids totalling 1.2bn euros, adding: “We are very confident, because the market is already buying. We feel very strong about it, and we’re going to deliver the numbers.”
New EuroLeague franchises are expected to be priced at between 50m and 100m euros each, a fraction of the entry cost being quoted for NBA Europe, which the American league has described as “a once-in-forever opportunity” in the growing sports asset class.
The NBA is understood to have received multiple offers for each of its 12 planned European teams, with bids for the London franchise exceeding $1bn, though not all markets have yet reached the $500m target.
Bueno, who spent time at sports streaming platform Dazn before joining EuroLeague, believes institutional investors such as RedBird will attach significant conditions to any commitments they make to the NBA’s project.
“They don’t finance risk, they don’t finance uncertainty, and if you put big numbers, there are big protections,” he said, adding he expects his former NBA colleagues to raise money but under highly conditional terms.
He argued that without knowing which teams would participate or which players would feature, any broadcaster asked to commit to NBA Europe would demand substantial contractual protections before signing a major media rights deal.
On the question of club defections, Bueno dismissed the NBA’s suggestion that EuroLeague clubs could exit for a break fee of just 10m euros, warning that any departures would cause “a fracture and friction” damaging to the sport.
“People will not understand why you sign it and leave. It’s like a kind of bad faith, or you were under tortious interference,” he said, adding that he removed the threat of legal action when he took office to focus on building the business.
Bueno was direct about the consequences if both leagues proceed independently, warning that fragmentation would dilute media rights values, increase execution risk for investors, and create damaging competition for sponsorship across overlapping markets.
“Fragmentation is going to create competition between our existing European top teams and the new teams, the media rights and the sponsorship side, and even new markets, because we have offers to go to markets like Rome, London and Berlin, and they’re in these markets too,” he said.
Despite several rounds of talks yielding little progress, Bueno remains hopeful a deal can still be reached, saying: “I think that today we haven’t yet found the click, but there are a few conversations and, maybe from one week to another things can change.”