Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has been named as a strategic partner to a group of investors looking to create a new basketball league that will span Asia and Europe to one day rival the NBA, with Swiss bank UBS serving as an advisor.
The Financial Times reported Friday that the $5 billion competition plans to create six men’s teams and six women’s teams that will compete in eight host cities.
Macau and Singapore are set to be hosts, while organisers are also looking for European venues.
The league hopes to lure top players from around the world, especially Europe, and give them an alternative to the NBA.
Byron Deeter and venture capital firm Quiet Capital are among the investors, with Maverick Carter, NBA great LeBron James‘s business manager, and Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice also on board.
“When it comes to global basketball, the opportunity is massive,” Deeter said in a statement to the media.
“There’s a huge untapped market — millions of fans outside of the U.S. who are eager for us to grow the sport at the elite level.”
Quiet Capital founder Lee Linden said they hoped to deliver a global league to two billion fans.
Saudi events company Sela — owned by the country’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund (PIF) — and Macau casino group Galaxy Entertainment will be strategic partners.
“We’re thrilled to be the global operating partner for this elite basketball circuit, and it marks a major milestone in our global expansion,” Sela said in a statement. “This partnership is set to elevate the game.”
Neil Meyer, UBS’s global co-head of media and telecom, said: “The thesis is simple: Basketball is a global game and the world wants more of it.”
Kevin Kelley, the chief operations officer at Galaxy Entertainment Group, said “high-level basketball” in Macau would make the region a premier destination for tourism.
“We’re thrilled to be strategic partners with this group of leaders,” Kelley said. “They’re creating a series of unmissable entertainment experiences for fans, and we’re all in.
Reuters has contacted the NBA and Singapore’s Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth for comment.
The Saudi PIF, which is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is involved in several sports, including golf, soccer and boxing.
LIV Golf challenged the established order and created a split in the sport before it announced a shock merger with the PGA Tour.
The Saudi Pro League also grew rapidly when it poached soccer talents from Europe’s top leagues with massive transfer fees and wages that many clubs and players could not turn down.