NBA Europe, revenue sharing is already a battle with the NBPA

The NBA Europe project has yet to get off the ground, but one potentially sensitive issue is already on the table: who will take the revenues generated by the new European league?

The person raising the issue is David Kelly, the new executive director of the NBPA, the NBA players’ union. Speaking to Front Office Sports, Kelly made it clear that, in the players’ view, some of the revenue generated by NBA Europe should also make its way into their pockets.

The NBPA’s argument is based primarily on the value of the NBA brand. The new European competition will be able to leverage a brand built over the years in part thanks to the popularity of the superstars who have played and continue to play in the American league.

It’s a project that is clearly being built on the backs of current NBA players and those who came before them, leveraging all the prestige they helped bring to the league. Then to create a competing league that they don’t participate in and from whose revenues they are excluded is a very serious issue for us

David Kelly

NBA Europe is expected to launch in the fall of 2027, with a project developed in partnership with FIBA that will initially feature 16 teams: 12 permanent franchises and four spots awarded through annual qualifying tournaments. Among the cities identified by the NBA are also Milan and Rome.

NBA Europe, the NBPA wants a share of the revenue

The central issue revolves around the definition of Basketball Related Income, meaning all revenue directly tied to league activities that, in the traditional NBA, is then divided between owners and players according to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

Kelly believes the money generated by NBA Europe should also be included, at least in part, in that equation. The request would not necessarily be to automatically apply the same percentage currently used in the United States, where players receive roughly 51% of revenue, but rather to find a fair share negotiated in good faith.

The problem, at least for now, is that the current CBA does not require the NBA to share the revenues from the future European competition with its players. And that is precisely where one of the main fronts in the next negotiations between the NBA and NBPA could emerge.

The current collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30, 2030, although both sides will have the option to exercise an opt-out clause in October 2028, ending the CBA early after the 2028-29 season.

Right now, however, there has not yet been a formal negotiation between the NBPA, NBA and Adam Silver.

For now, there are just quiet conversations where we’re explaining some of the issues that are important to us. When the time comes to actually negotiate the next CBA, though, we’re going to be very firm on some of the things we believe need to change

David Kelly

Not just NBA Europe: the Second Apron is also in the crosshairs

NBA Europe, in fact, could be just one of the hot-button issues in the next showdown between the league and its players.

Kelly also took aim at the Second Apron, introduced under the current CBA and now one of the most restrictive mechanisms in the NBA salary cap system. Crossing that threshold comes with a series of limitations on roster construction and trades, to the point that several franchises are doing everything they can to stay below it.

According to Kelly, the system has made it more difficult to keep teams together, shifting some of the economic consequences directly onto players. The NBA, meanwhile, continues to defend it as a tool designed to increase competitive balance and prevent franchises with greater financial resources from accumulating too much talent.

For the NBPA, that explanation is not entirely convincing.

We already had a system that was working very well. The NBA was able to negotiate the new television deal under that system, and there was already competitive balance. I think competitive balance was used as a justification to introduce something that, in reality, is primarily about cost control

David Kelly

Kelly has therefore made his position clear from the outset. NBA Europe represents a huge commercial opportunity for the league, but if the project directly leverages the strength and global value built by the NBA brand, the players do not appear willing to simply stand by and watch.

And with the next CBA inevitably beginning to enter the conversation over the coming years, the division of NBA Europe’s revenues could become one of the new battlegrounds between the NBA and NBPA.