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A group of investors being advised by Maverick Carter, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James' business partner, is looking to raise $5 billion to form an international basketball league to rival the NBA, according to Bloomberg.com.
The $5 billion would be coming from private capital sources, according to Bloomberg. Although Maverick Carter is advising the group, LeBron James is not a part of this venture, according to Front Office Sports. UBS Group AG and Evercore Inc. are involved to help raise money, which could come from wealthy individuals or institutional investors. Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett are backers, along with SC Holdings co-founders Jason Stein and Daniel Haimovic.
As far as the league itself, the idea is to put together six men's and six women's teams, with games played in eight cities around the world, spending two weeks in each city, according to Bloomberg. Singapore is one of the cities where games would be played. The Formula 1 racing schedule was mentioned as a comparison.
Other leagues like this have tried to compete with the NFL, and have struggled to break through. It remains to be seen if this league is possible to formulate and execute. As of now, it is an idea, but there is a vision as laid out above.
The NBA has pushed the envelope when it comes to international markets. The league returned to China after not going for a few years. NBA games have been held in Paris since 2020, while the Boston Celtics also went to Abu Dhabi to play a preseason game in October.
There is a long way to go with this new league, and it is certainly interesting to see that Carter is one of the main faces of it, even if James is not involved himself. It will be worth monitoring what happens with this potential league in the future.
