Euroleague Owners Meet at Lake Como Over NBA Bid

Picture a conference room overlooking Lake Como, inside a villa whose name is usually associated with celebrity weddings and gatherings of industrialists. Instead, the table this time is set for the owners of Europe’s strongest basketball clubs. That is exactly where, at Villa d’Este in Cernobbio, a decision is expected to fall this autumn that could reshape the Euroleague from the inside, perhaps for good.

The story broke in Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport, reported by journalist Alessandro Luigi Maggi, and was first picked up in Serbia by RTS. According to that outlet, the owners’ meeting has been set for October 5. The gathering was organized by Olimpia Milano, a club that has grown increasingly vocal in league governance over the past few seasons. Kurir published a somewhat different version the same day, citing the podcast Floor Generals: the meeting would take place sometime in the first two weeks of October, without a fixed date, but certainly not in Barcelona, where the Euroleague is headquartered. Two days earlier, on September 7, Telesport reported that the meeting had officially been scheduled for late September. Three sources, three different dates, and the only point of agreement is that the meeting is real and urgent.

What is actually on the agenda

According to all three sources, the table holds a possible NBA offer to take over the Euroleague. RTS reports that the offer would only take shape after the NBA Board of Governors meets on Monday. Kurir goes further and names the exact date of that session: September 15. Until then, the owners of Europe’s clubs will not even have a concrete figure in front of them, only word that one is coming.

The other option, no less significant, is that the clubs reject the offer and instead move into the operational phase of their own plan, the one Euroleague CEO Chus Bueno presented to them earlier. That plan also factors in the NBA Europe project, whose launch has been announced for 2027, meaning the Euroleague and the NBA are not just fighting over ownership, but over who gets to the same market space first.

Who is coming to the villa on Lake Como

The guest list on its own tells a story. Dimitris Giannakopoulos, owner of Panathinaikos, and brothers Giorgos and Panagiotis Angelopoulos, owners of Olympiacos, are both expected. Telesport, which first reported this on September 7 citing Greek outlets TheShot71 and Betarades, points out that it would be a rare meeting between two men whose relationship, in the outlet’s own words, is “very stormy.” A Greek rivalry at the same table, then, right as money and power are being decided.

Alongside the Greek contingent, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has also been announced, along with representatives of Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahce, and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez may also attend. Perez’s name in this story is no coincidence. The same man has surfaced in other stories about the restructuring of European basketball in recent months, including when the ABA League elected new leadership and Kmetovic stayed on as the league’s director. The pattern is the same: owners of the biggest clubs are increasingly sitting at the same tables, regardless of which competition is actually up for discussion.

There are two concrete items up for a vote. The first is the final move to a franchise model, doing away with the system under which a spot in the league has to be defended every year through results on the court. The second is the number and names of the clubs that would join the first phase of expansion, announced for the 2027/28 season. According to figures cited by both Telesport and RTS, more than 20 clubs across Europe have already expressed interest in that step. Milan is also positioning itself as a candidate to host the Final Four, which would give Olimpia, already responsible for organizing the owners’ meeting itself, extra leverage at the table.

Telesport also reported that the Euroleague has not been sitting idle. Its leadership has recently held what it described as constructive talks with senior representatives of the NBA and FIBA, a sign that a line to the Americans is being built in parallel with preparations for the Lake Como meeting.

The next milestone, then, is September 15 and the NBA Board of Governors session, only after that will it be clear what offer is actually on the table. Only then comes the owners’ meeting itself, whether that is the last week of September as Telesport claims or the first two weeks of October as Kurir reports. What is certain is that the Euroleague has never before had to make this kind of choice, sell out or chart its own path to a franchise system, and that whatever is decided inside that villa will outlast any derby played on the court this season.