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“There are more people approaching us and saying, ‘I’d love to have the London franchise,’ and I think it’s not just because it’s such an attractive market, but because there’s no top-tier basketball team right now,” Silver continued. “So, there’s lots of groups seeing an opportunity to create a new brand here.” For the NBA, the London discussion is one of the sheer size, wealth and untapped basketball potential of the market. There are numerous potential suitors. Soccer powerhouses like Arsenal or Chelsea could create a team. The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund could do it. As could investment firms like Sixth Street.
For its part, the NBA says it is following advice from the US government on its relationship with the UAE. “Basketball has a century-long history in the Middle East, and our activities in the UAE – which include bringing live NBA games to fans in the region and teaching the fundamentals and values of the game to thousands of boys and girls annually – are consistent with our efforts to engage fans and aspiring players in more than 200 countries and territories around the world,” a league spokesperson told the Guardian. “We will continue to rely on US state department guidance everywhere we operate.” Beneath its image of opulence and modernity, the UAE enforces silence with an iron fist. Dissidents and human rights advocates languish in prisons on arbitrary charges, punished for daring to oppose the state. The nation’s economic prosperity rests on the backs of migrant laborers, who make up 88% of the workforce and who toil with few rights and little recourse against abuse.
As the civil war approaches its third year, death toll estimates vary widely. The United Nations and other aid agencies have recorded 20,000 confirmed deaths. A more recent report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Sudan Research Group claimed that more than 61,000 people have died in Khartoum state, 26,000 as a direct result of the violence. Meanwhile, former US special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello claimed last year that up to 150,000 people had been killed. The civil war has also been marked by horrific atrocities such as sexual violence, torture, mutilation and ethnic cleansing. This was further underscored when the Sudanese military’s last remaining stronghold in Darfur fell to the RSF recently. The militia embarked on a mass killing spree so severe that images of the blood saturating the ground could be seen from space.
Despite ending previous sponsorship agreements with Qatar and Rwanda, the fact that Bayern Munich’s leadership refused to budge on its ties to the UAE further emphasizes how effective the Gulf state’s brand management and public relations strategies have been. Don’t expect the NBA, which also maintains partnership with other autocrats like Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, is unlikely to speak out about the UAE’s human rights record … but imagine if they did. Imagine if genocide, war crimes and entrenched authoritarianism were red lines for global sports.
Former Wizards player Jarell Eddie signed with Saudi team Al Ittihad for the 2025-26 season.
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Ex-Warriors player Alfonzo McKinnie joined Saudi team Al-Ahli Jeddah for the 2025-26 season.
So what's the league about? Early discussions are of a touring model with six men’s and six women’s teams playing in eight cities, none of which is likely to be in the United States. Investors include the Singapore government, SC Holdings, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, a Macau casino operator, UBS, Skype founder Geoff Prentice and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett, according to the Financial Times. Reports have linked VC firm Quiet Capital, tech investor Byron Deeter and Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment to the effort.
Sela, the events company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has agreed to become the operating partner for the proposed new league, which would feature six men’s and six women’s teams travelling to eight cities around the world. Macau and Singapore are in line to be hosts, with the Singaporean government and casino operator Galaxy Entertainment signalling their support for the project.
Basketball is huge in Asia, especially in China, and decision makers in places like Singapore, Macau and beyond are eager to add new forms of entertainment to boost local tourism. This is not a Saudi-led project. “The thesis is simple: basketball is a global game, and the world wants more of it,” said Neil Meyer, global co-head of media and telecom at UBS.
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Shaquille O’Neal, the 7-foot-1 NBA legend who moonlights as DJ Diesel, will be back on the turntables as the headliner of the first Sports Illustrated LIV Golf Experience, a live entertainment event announced Tuesday morning by the Saudi Arabia-backed tour.