The NBA wants to turn the Basketball Africa League into a franchise business. This month showed that where the league’s money comes from will be examined as closely as what the new owners pay in.
How the BAL franchise sale works
The NBA plans to sell up to 10 permanent BAL franchises to private owners, with two places still earned each year through qualification, according to Sports Business Journal, as reported by Diya TV. Investors from Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa made initial bids, several of them above $50 million, and Moelis & Company is running the process. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum told ESPN that the first franchises will be named in 2027, but he would not give a date for when they start playing. ESPN also reported that a Cape Town bid, which its backers said was fully funded, was turned down.
What a BAL franchise buyer is paying for
ESPN reports that BAL revenue more than doubled between 2021 and 2024, then levelled off, and that the league is not yet profitable. A $50 million bid buys a place in a league with growth behind it, but not yet profits. Last week we covered Spintex Knights, Ghana’s qualifier, who said they were stuck in Libya over a $33,000 travel bill on the way to the same competition. The gap between clubs that will own a BAL place and clubs that still pay their own way to reach it is the structural question this sale has to answer.
Why the NBA’s Rwanda partnership is under scrutiny
In a letter reported by ESPN on October 26, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) asked Adam Silver where the NBA draws the line on money from governments accused of human rights abuses, and warned that the league risks sportswashing. According to ESPN, Rwanda pays the NBA $6 million to $7 million a year for BAL hosting and branding, sponsors the LA Clippers through Visit Rwanda in a separate deal, and built the 10,000-seat Kigali arena at the centre of the league’s African operations. The NBA says it is preparing a response. Tatum has said before that the league follows US government policy on where it does business.
A different kind of BAL partner
On November 1, Qatar Foundation and the BAL opened the first of six BAL4HER community courts, in Guédiawaye, Senegal, according to The Peninsula. Qatar Foundation is the league’s first Official Community Partner, and women and girls make up two-thirds of the court’s current users. Senegal is also one of the markets competing for a franchise.
What to watch in 2027
Three questions: which markets win franchises, whether Kigali stays the league’s anchor while Rwandan investors bid for a place, and whether the qualifying route keeps clubs like Spintex Knights financially viable. For anyone buying in, the political question is now part of the price.
The Digest
EuroLeague set its price for any NBA Europe deal. CEO Chus Bueno said any partnership must include all 13 shareholder clubs, reopen the financial terms and leave clubs with a real say in decisions, per Basketnews. His hypothetical: a club that invests €500 million and earns €240 million over 10 years is still €260 million down. On the venue side, an Oak View Group executive told Front Office Sports that Europe’s old, undersized arenas are the bigger opportunity. The company’s Co-op Live venue in Manchester has been linked to a franchise. After two weeks of NBA numbers, this is EuroLeague’s counter-offer made in public.
The Knicks now trade as a standalone NBA stock. Madison Square Garden Sports completed the spin-off of the New York Rangers on October 26. The basketball business now trades as MSG Knickerbockers (NYSE: MSGK) and the hockey team as MSG Rangers (NYSE: MSGR), with James Dolan running both, per the company’s SEC filing and Finviz. It’s now the closest thing on the stock market to owning shares in an NBA team.
China’s CBA streaming rights came back at a lower price. Migu returned as the Chinese Basketball Association’s digital rights partner for three seasons from 2026-27, after the two sides split in 2025. Its 2020 deal was worth more than 2 billion yuan over five years, about 400 million a year. Last year’s renewal offer was reported at around 750 million yuan over five years, and the final price has not been disclosed, per a Chinese sports-business column republished by Huxiu. The league’s commercial revenue is shared with the clubs, so a lower rights fee hits the weaker clubs hardest.
The PBA is getting its own arena. Commissioner Willie Marcial confirmed that the Philippine Basketball Association, the Philippine Sports Commission and the University of the Philippines will build an 8,000 to 10,000-seat venue on university land along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, per the Philippine News Agency. The league will share it with the university. No cost or timeline has been announced, and a formal agreement still has to be signed before construction starts. For a league that has relied on rented venues, owning the building changes the business model.
TSN keeps the NBA in Canada until 2036. TSN extended its NBA rights for 10 years, through the 2035-36 season, keeping national Toronto Raptors broadcasts and games from around the league, per Barrett Media. Sportsnet renewed for the same period. No financial terms were disclosed.
Kalshi signed the first prediction-market deal with an NBA team. A week after the league named Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred exchanges, Kalshi became the Philadelphia 76ers’ Official Prediction Market Partner, with branding at Xfinity Mobile Arena and fan promotions, per TheLines. The league-wide framework we covered last week is now being sold team by team.
The NBA’s long-term sponsors are buying into the international games. American Express expanded its NBA and WNBA partnership to include the Mexico City game on November 7 and the Paris and Manchester games in January, per NBA Communications. AT&T renewed as USA Basketball’s official connectivity partner, per USA Basketball. Neither disclosed financial terms. The NBA’s international schedule is now a sponsorship property in its own right.