Latest news with #NBABoardofGovernors
Fox News
01-04-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
2025 NBA Play-In Tournament: Bracket, schedule, standings, rules
Ahead of the 2025 NBA playoffs tipping off on April 19, teams on the playoff bubble will battle it out in the play-in tournament. Four teams from each conference will compete for the final two postseason spots, adding extra drama before the main event begins. Here's everything you need to know about the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament: The NBA Board of Governors approved the adoption of the NBA Play-In Tournament on a full-time basis back in July 2022. In the 2024-25 NBA season, the Play-In Tournament will take place April 15-18, 2025, between the last day of the regular season on April 13 and the start of the playoffs on April 19. The tournament includes the four teams with the seventh to tenth best winning percentages in the Eastern and Western Conferences. After six games, the seventh and eighth seeds in each conference will be determined for the NBA Playoffs. The 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament will take place from Tuesday, April 15 to Friday, April 18. Here's how the NBA Play-In Tournament race looks today: Check out our NBA standings for up-to-the-minute updates. Tuesday, April 15 Wednesday, April 16 Friday, April 18 The seventh and eighth seeds in each conference will play in the first play-in games on April 15, and the ninth and tenth seeds in each conference will play on April 16. The winners of the 7-8 games will advance to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed. The losers of the 7-8 games will face the winners of the 9-10 games on April 18, with the No. 8 seed on the line. The team that loses will be disqualified from playoff contention. The losers of the 9-10 games are disqualified from playoff contention. Essentially, the teams that finish seventh and eighth in their conference after the NBA season get two chances to earn a spot in the NBA playoffs. All six games of the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament will be broadcast on ESPN and TNT.
USA Today
27-03-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Adam Silver says NBA 'very focused' on particular city for potential expansion
Adam Silver says NBA 'very focused' on particular city for potential expansion Show Caption Hide Caption Who does Gordon Hayward think will win NBA MVP this season? Former NBA player Gordon Hayward has his choice between Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for MVP, and make it clear who he thinks should win. Sports Seriously Although it still requires approval from the NBA Board of Governors, the recent $6.1 billion sale agreement of the Boston Celtics is paving the way for another potentially lucrative opportunity for the NBA: expansion. The league, which currently has 30 franchises, continues to study models for expansion, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday during a news conference at the conclusion of meetings with league owners. Silver acknowledged that there were 'no new developments' and no formal timeline to announce, but he did make clear that the league continues to be 'very focused' on one particular city, and one that formerly was home to the SuperSonics. 'I would just say the fact that we're not ready to make any public announcements with a specific timeline doesn't mean we don't care a lot about those fans and we aren't focused on the potential for the NBA to return to Seattle,' Silver said Thursday. It was 17 years ago that the former SuperSonics team relocated to Oklahoma City and rebranded itself as the Thunder. Originally founded in 1967, the SuperSonics played 40 seasons in Seattle before the relocation. Yet, that is just one market the NBA is considering, with Silver saying the league was assessing fair value to new and existing owners, as media rights deals would need to be split with any new ownership groups in the league's revenue sharing model. Silver said the NBA has been looking at expansion models 'over the last year or so' and pointed to the Celtics sale as a potential catalyst toward adding a 31st and 32nd franchise. 'There's no doubt that a major transaction like that becomes relevant to expansion,' Silver said. One of the complications to expansion is the uncertainty of regional sports networks that carry local broadcasts of games. Unlike the NFL, which airs most of its games on national networks like CBS, FOX and NBC and major streaming partners like Amazon and Netflix, the NBA relies on regional sports networks to carry non-national broadcasts. With cord cutting and cable subscriptions on the decline, many of these networks have faced financial difficulties. 'I'd just add the last component, which also is giving me just a bit of pause, is that we'd like to have a better sense of where we're going with local media,' Silver said. 'It's well known that we've seen some significant declines there. Virtually two-thirds of our teams are now dealing with RSNs that recently experienced bankruptcies or have shut down. 'I think while we understand the national media landscape now, to the extent we're looking at expansion domestically, I think we'd really like to understand what that opportunity for local media is, because it's a pretty critical component of our teams' economics.'
New York Times
27-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Adam Silver to pitch NBA owners on new European pro league: How it might look, who could join
By Joe Vardon, Adam Crafton and Mike Vorkunov Commissioner Adam Silver will pitch the NBA Board of Governors his early sketches of a plan to start a new pro basketball league in Europe as early as 2026, sources with direct knowledge of Silver's deliberations with potential stakeholders told The Athletic. Advertisement The venture could include 16 teams, deep-pocketed investors, some defectors from the established EuroLeague and new franchises in major markets like Paris and London. Silver is set to present to the NBA Board of Governors in New York on Thursday after months of preliminary talks with existing European club teams, potential investors — including owners of mega soccer franchises on the continent — and FIBA, the international governing body for basketball that would be Silver's partner in a new league. There are no deals yet between the NBA and, well, anyone, two high-placed league officials told The Athletic. Silver is, essentially, looking for permission from his bosses (the NBA's 30 owners) to move forward in making a new league happen. 'The process is just beginning,' one high-ranking NBA official said. Though planning is still in its early stages, Silver's effort has advanced enough for Andreas Zagklis, secretary general of FIBA, who is based just outside of Geneva, to travel to New York for the board of governors' meeting. Zagklis is not expected to be a part of Silver's initial presentation, but will be able to answer governors' questions. Asked for comment, NBA spokesman Mike Bass issued this statement: 'At this week's NBA Board of Governors meeting, the league will report on its exploration of a new men's basketball league in Europe, in partnership with FIBA.' Silver and the NBA have been building up to this for months. He spent several days in Paris in January meeting with potential stakeholders in the league and people across European basketball. Afterward, he said the league's March board meeting would prove decisive in the league's path forward. No vote is expected Thursday, but if Silver gets approval to continue, his new European league would include a mix of rights-holding franchises and slots for teams to play their way in by performing well in their national league or FIBA's Basketball Champions League. Advertisement The league's funding model would be expected to include league ownership stakes for team investors, sources involved in the discussions said, but a high-ranking NBA official called recent reports of a $500 million buy-in to the new league 'pure speculation.' Sources on both sides of the Atlantic with knowledge of the NBA's early talks are watching four existing EuroLeague franchises — Real Madrid, Barca Barcelona, ASVEL Basket of Villeurbanne, of which former NBA superstar Tony Parker is team president, and Fenerbahçe Istanbul — as potential defectors to Silver's league. Parker did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment, and neither did a EuroLeague official. A new team could emerge in the Paris market, owned by the Qatari Investment Authority, which owns soccer giant Paris Saint-Germain, according to a source close to PSG. The 2024 Olympic host city already counts as its own Paris Basketball, which plays in the French national league and the EuroLeague, and has home games at both of the city's large basketball arenas. 'QSI has been approached with regards to a basketball franchise in Paris in relation to which we have expressed an interest,' a spokesman for the Qatari Investment Authority said. The NBA is considering placing franchises in other major markets across Europe, including in cities where current pro franchises already exist, like London, Manchester, Berlin and Munich. The London market, or more broadly, the United Kingdom, is another place where the NBA could attract big soccer dollars from Middle Eastern sovereign funds. Manchester City's multi-billion-dollar soccer franchise is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, through the Abu Dhabi United Group out of the United Arab Emirates. The chairman of Manchester City is another Emirati, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, whose brother, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, runs the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism. Advertisement The Al Mubarak family has expressed interest in NBA ownership, though sovereign wealth funds currently cannot own more than 20 percent of any NBA franchise. A new basketball league in Europe would face immediate competition from the EuroLeague, widely considered the second-best basketball competition in the world after the NBA. The NBA tried to partner with the EuroLeague in the past, but the EuroLeague rejected those advances, according to multiple NBA and EuroLeague sources briefed on the conversations. The EuroLeague is in a state of uncertainty as European basketball executives wonder how the NBA would impact its future. For years, FIBA and the existing EuroLeague have clashed over issues ranging from the scheduling of national team events during EuroLeague seasons to how the continental league is run. Silver, meanwhile, has long been interested in European soccer and has cited an untapped marketing potential for basketball on the continent. While the economics of European basketball are not considered to be strong, and the NBA could enter a potentially fragmented marketplace, Silver has been bullish about its chances. 'I recognize there's enormous history and tradition here in European basketball, and we want to respect those traditions,' Silver said in Paris in January. 'Obviously, the United States is used to closed leagues; Europe is used to open leagues with promotion, regulation, et cetera. So we're looking at all those facets. 'But having had this long history from our operation of sports leagues, largely in the United States and a little bit elsewhere, seeing what's happened in Europe, not just in basketball but in soccer, as well, it gives us the opportunity to say, all right, let's take a fresh look; what are the most effective practices for creating a commercially viable league.'
