London Lions are in talks to buy an expansion franchise in EuroLeague basketball when the continent’s premier competition adds four new teams next year. London is a priority market for EuroLeague as it advances its plans to grow to 24 teams for the 2027-28 season – part of a comprehensive
Frank Dalleres
Monday 06 July 2026 3:45 pm | Updated: Monday 06 July 2026 3:18 pm
London Lions are in talks to buy an expansion franchise in EuroLeague basketball when the continent’s premier competition adds four new teams next year.
London is a priority market for EuroLeague as it advances its plans to grow to 24 teams for the 2027-28 season – part of a comprehensive rearguard action against the NBA’s own ambitions to launch a European league with new franchises in underserved markets like the UK.
Domestic champions London Lions have taken the first steps to bolstering their credentials by securing a place in the second-tier EuroCup for the coming season but, backed by Lithuanian tech billionaires, have set their sights on a place in the top competition.
EuroLeague CEO Chus Bueno told City AM that the club, which has plans to build the UK’s biggest dedicated basketball arena in the capital, is one of several potential buyers for the London EuroLeague franchise.
“In the case of London, we have the interest of the London Lions, just to be clear. They want to become franchisees, they said it already,” Bueno said.
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“But also we have two more investors that are interested. For me, London is a big market, everyone wants to have London, we see an acute opportunity – it’s a no-brainer, right?”
Bueno warned, however, that there was “more risk” in establishing a franchise in London, given that basketball is less established as a spectator sport here.
One option that has been raised by stakeholders is for the London Lions – or whoever takes the London EuroLeague franchise – to play in a domestic league other than Britain’s Super League Basketball to give it a better chance of attracting elite players and strong crowds.
“The franchise value could be €80m-€100m, but it’s more in terms of the operations for us,” said Bueno. “The domestic league is not as competitive as other European domestic leagues. If you tell top talent that you’re going to play in a small college arena, 800 people, it’s not very compelling.
“Then in terms of the sponsorship and gate revenues, how are you going to bring a package that is only 15 home games that are worthy, and the other 15 games with an extremely low attendance? It’s very complicated.”
Bueno also ruled out having multiple EuroLeague franchises in London or, in contrast to the plans for NBA Europe, a team in Manchester.
“We’re just looking for one in London. We need to test it and prove it. But for us, Manchester is way too risky,” he added. “It’s a smaller city – a little bit more than half a million, with the whole suburbs it’s 2.5m, with two big [football] teams that are religions there. I hope we have good basketball in Manchester, don’t get me wrong, but our perspective is: let’s try to figure it out first and learn, and then we can see other places.”
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