MANCHESTER UNITED have “said yes” to launching a sports team in another sport.
That is the claim of Gianni Petrucci, the president of the Italian Basketball Federation ahead of stunning plans to launch an NBA Europe.
According to Forbes, teams in the NBA in the United States raked in a staggering £9.5billion ($12.5bn) in total revenue during the 2024/25 season.
And according to Petrucci, the Red Devils want to grab a piece of the pie when US basketball chiefs launch their semi-open NBA Europe.
Major European cities including Manchester, London, Rome and Paris are on the cards to host one of the potentially 16 teams who will found the league – which aims to capitalise on the growth of basketball in Europe.
These cities were earmarked by NBA Europe and Middle East director Giorgos Aivazoglou when speaking at the Football Business Forum at Bocconi University in Milan earlier this month, due to their background with major football teams being from there.
And that sentiment has now been echoed by Petrucci, who has claimed United have already given the green light to joining the new-look European basketball league.
In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport, the 80-year-old said: “In a $50bn market, European basketball has a commercial value of just $200million.
“An NBA league is precisely the opportunity to increase competitiveness and expand the pool.
“If Manchester United, the most popular football team in the world, has already said yes, there must be a reason.”
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SunSport have approached United for comment.
United did once own a basketball team by the same name which played at the Stretford Sports Centre against the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid and brought in weekly crowds of 1,500.
The team included the likes of future NBA Hall of Famer John Amaechi and yielded a league title celebrated by the cheering Old Trafford faithful in 1986.
However, the basketball experiment United participated in during the 1980s was ultimately doomed to fail, and the franchise was brought by a group of local businessman in 1988.
The team name changed to the Manchester Eagles, but it then changed back to the original team United had purchased, Manchester Giants, following a merger with a team called Olympic City Giants – who were founded in an ultimately futile attempt to promote Manchester’s bid to host the Olympics.
In the modern day, Britain’s Super Basketball League hosts a team by the name of Manchester Basketball, established in 2024 in place of the Manchester Giants when the British Basketball League folded.
They play at the 2,000-capacity National Basketball Centre in Bell Vue.
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Carrington played host to NBA stars only in the past summer, with the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro and Bruno Fernandes meeting LA Clippers ace Ivica Zubac, Chicago Bulls star Kevin Huerter and Tyson Chandler, the latter of whom won Olympic gold in London 2012.
NBA Europe is said to be eyeing a start date during the 2027/28 season, which follows the 2025/26 season starting with a record 71 European players – including the likes of Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama and Luka Doncic.
Germany are the reigning Fiba world champions in a sport which is now the continent’s fastest growing and second-most popular on the continent.
However, it brings in just one per cent of Europe’s £33.7bn sports media and sponsorship markets.
There is said to be a consensus between the NBA and EuroLeague, its European counterparts which includes the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Fenerbache, Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda) and AS Monaco, that there is significant room for growth.
However, EuroLeague chiefs are concerned an additional league would only hurt the sport.
The NBA currently holds six games across Europe.
Inside British basketball’s civil war
THE British Basketball Federation (BBF) has entered liquidation amid the sport’s UK civil war.
Chair of the BBF Chris Grant resigned from his post last month, just days before Great Britain were sensationally banned by world governing body FIBA.
A BBF statement issued on Friday began: “The British Basketball Federation Ltd (BBF Ltd) today announces that it has ceased to trade due to a significant and unanticipated reduction in income and unforeseen expenditure resulting in the company’s inability to meet its liabilities as they fall due.
“With the support of professional advisors (Begbies Traynor), BBF Ltd is taking the necessary steps to place the company into Liquidation.
“The immediate priority for all domestic basketball stakeholders is to work closely with the sport’s international governing body, FIBA, to ensure the ongoing stability and security of the Great Britain national teams, including delivering on our participation commitment to upcoming FIBA competitions.”
In April, the BBF controversially awarded a 15-year license to the Great British Basketball League (GBBL), led by US businessman Marshall Glickman, to run the UK’s professional domestic league.
However, Britain’s nine pro clubs refused to leave the existing Super League Basketball (SLB), which was formed in 2024 following the demise of the 777-led former British Basketball League.
They came together to call the licensing decision “illegal and unjust” – backing the SLB in its subsequent legal battle with the BBF.
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Man Utd’s transfer deals
IN
- Bryan Mbeumo – from Brentford – £71m
- Matheus Cunha – from Wolves – £62.5m
- Diego Leon – from Cerro Porteno – £7m
- Benjamin Sesko – from RB Leipzig – £74m
- Senne Lammens – from Royal Antwerp – £18m
TOTAL – £232.5m
OUT
- Alejandro Garnacho – to Chelsea – £40m
- Marcus Rashford – to Barcelona – Loan
- Victor Lindelof – released
- Christian Eriksen – released
- Toby Collyer – to West Brom – Loan
TOTAL – £40m
