The next target for the Gulf’s apparently insatiable appetite for sports and leisure deals could be professional basketball — with the NBA trying to entice Middle East sovereign funds to invest in a new, European league.
Gulf investors already own soccer giants like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, part of a global spree that has seen them pour funds into boxing, cycling, golf, and F1, alongside more sedentary pursuits like e-sports. Sovereign wealth funds have long had designs on the NBA but can’t own more than 20% of a basketball franchise in the US. There are no such restrictions in Europe.
They have already shown interest in basketball: The Qatar Investment Authority is a minority shareholder in the firm that owns the Washington Wizards, while Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Capital has backed LA Lakers’ owner TWG Global. The UAE capital regularly hosts NBA exhibition games, and the league’s in-season tournament is sponsored by Emirates airlines.
If European basketball deals are finalized, it could lead to changes for the sport back at home, NBA commissioner Adam Silver told The Athletic: “It may be that over time there are practices that we learn from in Europe that will then work in the US.”