Following his admission of a growing alignment between the NBA and EuroLeague in their approach, the head of Europe’s premier basketball competition, Chus Bueno, has spoken about the futures of the three French clubs involved in the league. He begins with ASVEL, describing a peculiar stance taken by its president, Tony Parker.
“ASVEL is in a delicate situation, both on and off the court; I’ve told Tony this many times. Clubs have the right to vote for a ‘call option,’ a clause that would force the repurchase of their shares. They would then exit the competition. We had warned everyone and set a deadline of January 15th to extend, or face this clause. I’m not assuming it will end this way, but if at some point clubs get tired of waiting and want to move forward… Tony risks losing a lot of money. If you later want to become a franchise, you’ll have to pay between 50 and 80 million in expansion fees. If we reach an agreement with the NBA, you’ll also benefit from that… I don’t see the point in not signing. If he can do it tonight, he should. But I will respect his decision in any case.”
Facing significant financial troubles and having narrowly avoided bankruptcy, the future of AS Monaco hangs precariously. As for Paris Basketball, its future was not yet secured with Paulius Motiejunas (the previous head of the Champions League), but the Spaniard seems to be advocating for the capital to be part of the project.
“We are working with Monaco, we are monitoring everything, talking with the GM, the Principality… They have taken positive steps, and several serious investors are interested. We wish them success so that we can continue discussing their place. But we are not there yet. […] Paris is a major brand, a big market. Executives Eric Schwartz and David Kahn have done a remarkable job. They had discussed a license with my predecessor; I proposed to them to continue the conversation around the new model. We hope for an agreement so they can join the league.”
He also revealed what he believes would be the ideal scenario for the EuroLeague in general, given the imminent arrival of NBA Europe.
“We are focused on having the best possible league, the best championships, teams, cities, with their century-old traditions. After that, we need to see how to improve things, perhaps by adding other cities – Manchester, London, Rome… In the two months since I arrived, we have restructured the competition. The thirteen A licenses will become franchises by the end of the 2026-27 season, offering a more solid and permanent way to do business and bring stability to the market, as teams, despite exit clauses, are not at risk of disappearing. We are creating value, assets. We have commissioned a study to value the league – an estimated 1.5 billion according to the firm. Within four years, this value could increase to 3 billion.”
