Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) sovereign wealth vehicle is reportedly among a group of major investors putting together $5bn to start an intercontinental basketball league that could rival the US-based NBA.

The Financial Times has revealed that the competition will feature six men’s and six women’s teams, each competing across eight global host locations, with Macau and Singapore already in contention and more – primarily European – locations being targeted.

European basketball, a product with a strong basketball consumer market but with less financial pulling power across its competitions than the NBA, will likely be a major target for the league in terms of both hosting and bringing in talent. 

Other investors beyond the PIF, according to reports, include the Quiet Capital private equity firm; noted technology investor Byron Deeter; Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice; and Maverick Carter, the business partner of NBA icon LeBron James.

The competition will be delivered in collaboration with strategic partner Sela, a Saudi events company owned by the PIF, as well as the Macau-based casino operator Galaxy Entertainment and Singapore's Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth.

A Sela statement said the news “marks a major milestone in our global expansion. This partnership is set to elevate the game [of basketball]”.

Swiss bank UBS will serve as an advisor to the project.

Should it come to fruition, this project's effect on basketball could be similar to the impact that the PIF’s other major sports league investment, Liv Golf, had on that sport and the rival PGA Tour.

Liv Golf created a rift in golf that is still in the process of being mended, but the greater diversity in basketball leagues globally and the NBA’s sole focus on the US – besides a handful of international games each season – could ameliorate this, especially if the international league were to take place outside the seasons of the NBA and Europe’s elite competition, the EuroLeague.

The NBA is already set to visit Macau ahead of the 2025 season, for a pair of friendly fixtures between the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns.

Those fixtures are organised through a multi-year partnership between the NBA and Sands China, the Macau branch of resort giant Las Vegas Sands, which has seemingly kickstarted a basketball hosting arms race in the Special Administrative Region with rival casino owner Galaxy now pitching in with the rival project.

Besides that, the NBA also regularly stages annual fixtures in Europe during the regular season, most recently when the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers played out a series in Paris that drew record viewership.

There are frequent rumors regarding the NBA’s ambition in Europe and whether or not it will ever launch a satellite league on the continent in a similar fashion to its NBA Africa competition, but nothing concrete has come of these.

The EuroLeague is also expanding its own horizons beyond the continent and into the Middle East, hosting its showpiece 2025 Final Four in Abu Dhabi for the first time.

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