MU is about to open a new sports project

According to Gianni Petrucci - President of the Italian Basketball Federation, MU is said to be expanding into other sports by establishing a basketball team.

MU will move into basketball.

This is part of the NBA's ambitious plan to launch NBA Europe, scheduled to open in the 2027/28 season. Petrucci told Corriere dello Sport : "In a market worth $50 billion , European basketball is only worth $200 million commercially. An NBA league here is an opportunity to increase competition and expand scale. If the most famous team in the world like MU has agreed, there is certainly a reason."

According to Forbes , NBA teams in the US will earn $12.5 billion in revenue in the 2024/25 season. Major cities such as Manchester, London, Rome or Paris are on the list of potential locations to host 10-12 founding teams of NBA Europe, taking advantage of the rapid growth of basketball in the old continent.

MU had a basketball team of the same name in the 1980s, playing at Stretford Sports Centre, against the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid and attracting an average of 1,500 spectators per game. The team won a national championship in 1986.

However, the project failed and was sold to local businessmen in 1988, later renamed Manchester Eagles and then back to Manchester Giants after merging with Olympic City Giants.

Currently, the English Basketball Association is dissolved, but the city of Manchester owns a Manchester Basketball team founded in 2024, playing at the National Basketball Centre, Bell Vue with a capacity of 2,000 spectators.

Despite being the fastest growing and second most popular sport in Europe, basketball currently accounts for just 1% of the sports media and sponsorship market.

Source: https://znews.vn/mu-sap-mo-du-an-the-thao-moi-post1603507.html