The countdown to the launch of NBA Europe has already begun. The project is well underway, to the point where proposals from interested parties seeking to acquire one of the 12 licenses for the newly formed league have been submitted to the Board of Governors, where NBA team owners will review the applications in detail.

At the same time, meetings with prospective investors are expected to take place in New York. This revelation came from Adam Silver, who emphasized that meetings will take place on the sidelines of the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday, in a move expected to set the stage for further developments.

Speaking about NBA Europe and the next steps in the process, Silver said: “As far as NBA Europe is concerned, yes, things are where I hoped they would be. Mark Tatum is here, overseeing the process. We’re seeing tremendous interest from many cities across Europe, including cities from which we didn’t even solicit bids.

We discussed today with our board of directors that we are in the process of finalizing these bids—I believe for an initial group of cities. Many of the people involved in these bids—the European bidders—will actually be in New York for the World Cup final on Sunday.

Mark and I will be attending several meetings with them, given their presence in New York. I’d say we hope to finalize some of these deals in the coming weeks, and announcements will follow.

But I’m very pleased with the interest in basketball across Europe.”

All of this comes as NBA Europe is expected to welcome someone like Artūras Karnisovas to its ranks, with the former executive of the Chicago Bulls and Denver Nuggets serving as an advisor to the newly formed league, acting as a key partner for Silver in the new league.

*photo source: AP