The NBA could have some international competition if a group of investors being advised by Maverick Carter, LeBron James’ business manager, follows through on its ambitions.
Among the investors seeking to raise $5 billion to form an international basketball league are Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice, the investment group SC Holdings and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett, Bloomberg reports. The group is being led by UBS Group AG and Evercore Inc., and the investors could eventually include private equity and sovereign wealth funds.
The league would be comprised of six men’s and six women’s teams that would play in eight cities throughout the world. Teams would spend two weeks in each city, one of which being mentioned in Singapore. The rotation between cities would be similar to the schedule used for Formula 1 races.
There is no intention of attempting to compete with the NBA, but the league aspires to be “an F1 for basketball,” reports Front Office Sports. The shorter season would emulate F1, golf’s DP World Tour and ventures like Unrivaled, the 3×3 women’s basketball league debuting on Friday. A target date to announce the league has not yet been decided.
Despite Carter’s friendship and business relationship with James, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar has no involvement in the league, according to reports from multiple outlets.
The initiative to launch the international league would follow the NBA returning to China next October with two preseason games. The games will be played in Macao after a five-year controversy ignited by social media posts from then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey regarding protests in Hong Kong against the Chinese government.
During the dispute with China, the NBA continued to expand its international footprint with preseason games in Abu Dhabi and regular season matchups in Paris. The NBA may open a regional office in the Middle East, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, MLB has played games in Japan while the NFL continues to build a presence in Europe.
