Beede: Magic to Play Two Regular Season Games in Berlin and London This Season

drsd · Post #41 » by **drsd** » Thu Sep 18, 2025 8:35 am

Between the lines, seems like in 2027 or 2028 Manchester could get one of the new Europe-NBA teams. That would be great (for me). Anything not-London. The idea I guess is that it would be Manchester United basketball; something like that.

AdamTheGreek · Post #42 » by **AdamTheGreek** » Thu Sep 18, 2025 9:50 am

Seems like they’re talking about 2 UK teams (either both in Manchester or one there and one in London).

I actually think either in Berlin (because I believe ALBA Berlin is interested in this NBA/FIBA league) or in London during this Magic-Grizzlies trip Silver is going to officially announce the league.

I still think they’re pushing for the 2026-2027 campaign to be its first because of Madrid’s and Barcelona’s current Euroleague rights contract expiring at the end of this ‘25-‘26 campaign.

If you get one of Real/Barca, PAO/OLY, an Italian team, two Parisian teams, that’s at least 8, you’ll quickly get to ten or twelve for your first season.

There’s all of this sovereign wealth fund, oil money that wants in on the NBA. Due to current restrictions, the most they can do is get tiny minority ownership stakes or do full on sponsorships like the NBA Cup.
Dubai (who just bought into the Euroleague, Abu Dhabi, etc. they already host a lot of Euroleague, FIBA big events. They forked over a lot of money for Team USA to play friendlies last year.
So this new European NBA/FIBA league that’s going to try to crush the Euroleague is a chance for Silver to get this big time money involved even if it’s not in the actual NBA.

As flawed as the Euroleague is, no European basketball fan is thrilled about any of this.

drsd · Post #43 » by **drsd** » Thu Sep 18, 2025 1:09 pm

I will focus on only your first and last sentences; out of context they nicely illustrate my point, even though it has nothing to do with your message

AdamTheGreek wrote:Seems like they’re talking about 2 UK teams (either both in Manchester or one there and one in London).

As flawed as the Euroleague is, no European basketball fan is thrilled about any of this.

Nobody who is a fan of the BBL (British basketball is actually a thing, apparently) will be a tiny bit upset about having near NBA-level talent hooping it up in two UK cities. NOBODY!

I agree London has to host one of the teams; I was surprised that Man. U might want to host a second. But I'd be all for a northern team.

London and Manchser will both have existing commercial airline hubs to all other cities that can plausibly host a NBA-Europe team, after all.

Post #44 » by **eyriq** » Thu Sep 18, 2025 1:56 pm

Going to be nice to have a West Coasters experience when consuming these games. I'm going to try and pick a team and follow them. Probably a German team, preferably in Baveria.

RookieStar · Post #45 » by **RookieStar** » Thu Sep 18, 2025 8:44 pm

Yeah... we will see if any of these Euro-NBA teams will catch my fancy..

drsd · Post #46 » by **drsd** » Sat Sep 20, 2025 8:23 am

Exciting news given how successful NBA Africa and Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Europe has been for the league.

LINK: NBA AND UK GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCE £10M PLAN TO ELEVATE BASKETBALL IN THE UK

Basketball is one of the UK’s fastest-growing sports, the second-most-popular team sport for young people, behind football, and reaches diverse communities across the country while promoting the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle.

In recognition of this, the UK Government and the NBA are announcing a comprehensive plan to collaborate on a variety of initiatives to continue to grow basketball and get people active in the UK.

As far as I can interpret this, the goal is more money on indoor courts at the youth level. i.e. this is the long game!
(there is certainly a real limit to indoor basketball in the north of England, as most courts are half-court "playground" style hoops.)

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer MP said:

"Basketball is booming in Britain – and this investment will help take it to the next level, opening up the game to thousands more people right across the country.

"This is about more than sport – it’s about community, inclusion and inspiring the next generation to find their spark.

"I’m proud that the UK is teaming up with one of the world’s most iconic sporting brands to deliver real change for our people and our communities."

Tarheel · Post #47 » by **Tarheel** » Mon Sep 22, 2025 9:16 am

Great news.

There were rumours that the Manchester team would be Man City affiliated. I think that there were rumblings of a PSG team, too.

It seems pretty likely that they are planning for it to start in 26/27 - the GBBL alluded to it last week. I agree with Adam that they are likely to announce it at these regular season games - it's too much of a coincidence to have games in London, Berlin and Manchester in the run-up to the supposed start date.

https://www.eurohoops.net/en/nba-news/1869480/new-british-league-states-that-nba-europe-will-start-in-2027-having-teams-in-london-and-manchester/

To be exact, the newly licensed GBBL sent the following statement to the British outlet “Yorkshire Post,” in which they confirmed that the new British League will delay its tip-off until 2027, “coinciding with the anticipated first season of NBA Europe.”

The full statement is the following: “GBB League Ltd. (GBBL) will launch the first season of its new British basketball league in September 2027, coinciding with the anticipated first season of NBA Europe, and to provide sufficient time to work with the British Basketball Federation (BBF), the Home Country Associations and the British basketball community to prepare for the launch of a new elite academy for young players who will represent the future of the Great Britain National Team. Two NBA Europe teams – based in London and Manchester – are expected to compete in GBBL’s new league.”

I live in the South East and work in London, so I'm looking forward to having a NBA level team on the doorstep.

Flannerz · Post #48 » by **Flannerz** » Wed Oct 15, 2025 9:18 pm

I got my ticket to the game today! It cost me £260 quid though. If I wanted to sit in the lower bowl it would have been £460. How does that compare to a normal Magic home game?

AdamTheGreek · Post #49 » by **AdamTheGreek** » Wed Oct 15, 2025 10:02 pm

Flannerz wrote:I got my ticket to the game today! It cost me £260 quid though. If I wanted to sit in the lower bowl it would have been £460. How does that compare to a normal Magic home game?

The London game?

Oh wow, that’s a lot, where did you buy it from?

£260 for one ticket to most Kia Center Magic games would get you within 5-9 rows of the floor.

Tarheel · Post #50 » by **Tarheel** » Thu Oct 16, 2025 9:31 am

Flannerz wrote:I got my ticket to the game today! It cost me £260 quid though. If I wanted to sit in the lower bowl it would have been £460. How does that compare to a normal Magic home game?

I wasn't quick enough - the tickets kept disappearing as I tried to buy them :lol:

I'm in for another pre-sale tomorrow so trying again then. The prices are mental though, £160 to sit in the gods :-o

Flannerz · Post #51 » by **Flannerz** » Thu Oct 16, 2025 11:25 am

AdamTheGreek wrote:
Flannerz wrote:I got my ticket to the game today! It cost me £260 quid though. If I wanted to sit in the lower bowl it would have been £460. How does that compare to a normal Magic home game?

The London game?

Oh wow, that’s a lot, where did you buy it from?

£260 for one ticket to most Kia Center Magic games would get you within 5-9 rows of the floor.

I bought the ticket officially. I got it through o2 priority.

Flannerz · Post #52 » by **Flannerz** » Thu Oct 16, 2025 11:26 am

Tarheel wrote:
Flannerz wrote:I got my ticket to the game today! It cost me £260 quid though. If I wanted to sit in the lower bowl it would have been £460. How does that compare to a normal Magic home game?

I wasn't quick enough - the tickets kept disappearing as I tried to buy them

I'm in for another pre-sale tomorrow so trying again then. The prices are mental though, £160 to sit in the gods

I had the same when I finally got in the queue. I then had a meeting but during a break I had another look and saw two so I snapped them up! I paid more than I wanted but had to get them!

drsd · Post #53 » by **drsd** » Tue Oct 21, 2025 10:10 am

For the "normal" tickets:

Tickets to the NBA Berlin and London Games 2026 presented by Tissot to go on sale in November
– Tickets to The NBA Berlin Game 2026 Presented by Tissot Available November 11;

– Tickets to The NBA London Game 2026 Presented by Tissot Available November 13 –

djw · Post #54 » by **djw** » Tue Oct 21, 2025 1:06 pm

drsd wrote:For the "normal" tickets:
Tickets to the NBA Berlin and London Games 2026 presented by Tissot to go on sale in November
– Tickets to The NBA Berlin Game 2026 Presented by Tissot Available November 11;

– Tickets to The NBA London Game 2026 Presented by Tissot Available November 13 –

This whole ticketing process is flat out horrible.

drsd · Post #55 » by **drsd** » Tue Oct 21, 2025 5:11 pm

djw wrote:This whole ticketing process is flat out horrible.

In the UK, the pre-tickets required signing up for a business Revolut banking account. I am not paying £20 a month for a bank account (I don't need) so I can maybe buy a single basketball ticket.

cedric76 · Post #56 » by **cedric76** » Tue Oct 21, 2025 5:26 pm

Flannerz wrote:I got my ticket to the game today! It cost me £260 quid though. If I wanted to sit in the lower bowl it would have been £460. How does that compare to a normal Magic home game?

how did you do?

Tickets are not on sale yet

https://www.theo2.co.uk/events/detail/nba-london-game-2026

cedric76 · Post #57 » by **cedric76** » Tue Oct 21, 2025 5:36 pm

Fukking o2, they r using 3rd party vendors:-(

djw · Post #58 » by **djw** » Tue Oct 21, 2025 6:24 pm

drsd wrote:
djw wrote:This whole ticketing process is flat out horrible.

In the UK, the pre-tickets required signing up for a business Revolut banking account. I am not paying £20 a month for a bank account (I don't need) so I can maybe buy a single basketball ticket.

Yeah and please describe the process, tell us when pre-sales starts, etc.

I‘m planning my xmas getaway and wanna catch the Berlin game so can only book once I know I hae tickets. Otherwise I‘d stay in the sun longer. Sure, not their problem but it shouldn‘t be too hard at least announcing start of sales and few months before the game.

drsd · Post #59 » by **drsd** » Tue Oct 21, 2025 6:53 pm

djw wrote:Yeah and please describe the process, tell us when pre-sales starts, etc.

That came and passed. It was early October when all NBA-league-pass members got an invite to join revolut via email, as a precondition for pre-sales.
I have no idea "what came next" as I cannot consider the process of signing up to a bank account "just cause".

As for the normal ticket sales, looks like it will be a lottery to buy tickets.

Sign up is just an email: https://nbaevents.nba.com/london

EDIT: here is the Berlin game. Not sure how good your German is: https://nbaevents.nba.com/berlin . So: click the DE in the top right to go to EN (English).

Flannerz · Post #60 » by **Flannerz** » Wed Oct 22, 2025 11:47 am

cedric76 wrote:
Flannerz wrote:I got my ticket to the game today! It cost me £260 quid though. If I wanted to sit in the lower bowl it would have been £460. How does that compare to a normal Magic home game?

how did you do?

Tickets are not on sale yet

https://www.theo2.co.uk/events/detail/nba-london-game-2026

I get o2 priority and the tickets went on sale for o2 customers last week.If you are an o2 customers then you always get a pre-sale window for events on at the o2.