The race for the NBA Europe London team has produced a subplot worthy of a boardroom thriller.

The people who control Tottenham Hotspur and the man who ran the club for nearly a quarter of a century now sit on opposite sides of a bidding war, both chasing the same trophy asset in the new NBA Europe London team contest.

That asset carries a price tag of roughly $1 billion, or about A$1.5 billion, and it has quickly become the most coveted franchise in a brand new European basketball competition. 

For Australian sports investors watching the professionalisation of leagues at home, the frenzy over a single London team is a useful signpost of how much capital American basketball can now pull in offshore.

According to Sky News, the Lewis family, which owns the majority of Spurs through the Enic investment group, has thrown its weight behind one of the leading offers. 

What makes the story unusual is who they are competing against, and how far the money and pedigree on both sides now stretches.

How The NBA Europe London Team Bid Works

The Lewis family has not gone it alone. 

They have joined forces with the Checketts family, longtime American sports operators with stakes in Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake and the NHL's St Louis Blues, and with the Eccles family, which helped develop venues tied to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and is involved again with the 2034 Games returning to Utah.

David Checketts brings a particularly relevant CV, having held senior NBA roles and worked on the operation and revival of arenas including Madison Square Garden.

Both the Checketts and Eccles families also own stakes in Burnley, the English club relegated from the Premier League last season, which gives the group a foothold in European football as well.

A source close to the consortium described it as combining "some of the most experienced basketball and sports investors and operators globally", backed by "substantial institutional and private capital".

The pitch, in short, blends basketball know-how, arena-building muscle and patient money, exactly the profile the NBA says it wants for a franchise of this scale.

Why Daniel Levy Backs A Rival Group

Standing in their way is Daniel Levy, who stepped down as Tottenham chairman earlier this year after almost 25 years, reportedly in less than harmonious circumstances.

Sky News has previously reported that Levy is part of a rival consortium including Liberty Global and MSP Sports Capital, a firm that once backed McLaren Racing. 

The rivalry between the two camps has turned the bid for this single franchise into one of the most closely watched ownership contests in sport.

The history here runs deep. Joe Lewis invested in Spurs back in 2001 for a modest sum and watched the club balloon into a multibillion-pound business, before transferring his Enic holding to a family trust in 2022.

Lewis pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2024 and was reportedly pardoned last year by US President Donald Trump, a detail that adds an extra layer of intrigue to the family's return to the spotlight.

Who Else Wants The NBA Europe London Team

London has emerged as the jewel among the 12 planned NBA Europe teams, which will also be based in cities such as Berlin, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris and Rome.

Reports indicate the other suitors circling the capital include ABG, which owns a stake in David Beckham's consumer goods empire, the Reuben family of Newcastle United, and technology billionaire Nikesh Arora, who led the purchase of a lucrative franchise in English cricket's Hundred.

Advisers reportedly fielded indicative bids from dozens of parties in late March, and with the NBA hoping to close its first transactions within weeks, an answer on whether Levy's group or the Lewis-Checketts-Eccles alliance secures the London prize should arrive soon.