Pallacanestro Varese vice president Paolo Perego has confirmed that RedBird Capital approached them about the NBA Europe project.
It has been known for months now that Milan’s owners RedBird want to get involved in the NBA’s latest expansion plan, which is a league based in Europe. There are some hurdles to overcome, but it is seen as an immense commercial opportunity.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
It was reported by Il Giorno that RedBird are in talks with the current basketball team based in Varese. The plan is a time-share scheme: Serie A home games will be held in Masnago and NBA Europe home games will be held in a new arena to be built in San Donato, with around 15,000 seats.
Perego spoke about the NBA Europe project with RedBird on Ultima Contesa, a program on Varesenoi. He seemed to confirm that the plan is to move ahead together, with his words relayed by MilanPress.
Why does there remain mystery around the project?
“Behind this project there are confidentiality clauses that we are obliged to respect. We’ve also read a lot of nonsense and some comments from people who clearly don’t understand how much we all care about Pallacanestro Varese, the city of Varese, the investments we’re making in Varese.
“[Continued] The fact that we’ve recreated our youth sector at a very high cost – where there are now 450 kids – and the respect we have for this 80-year history: all of this is part of a series of conditions without which we wouldn’t even be sitting down to discuss NBA Europe.”
Why did RedBird choose Varese?
“For how we manage the club, regardless of where we are today sportingly, and for everything we’ve built, which provides an excellent foundation for the future and allows us not to start from scratch. What will happen, however, right now, not only do we not know: no one knows.”
