Reporting from Berlin: Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Jordi Bertomeu met on Sunday morning in Berlin with select journalist from all over Europe on Sunday in order to discuss the present and the future of the Euroleague. Eurohoops was there and presents you with the low down.
Of course, the ongoing conflict with FIBA was the main matter of discussion with Bertomeu explaining that nothing new happened since the last meeting and that they are two red lines that can’t be crossed in order to have a deal: “In Munich we met with FIBA after waiting five months for this appointment. We proposed some alternatives, but it is impossible to have any agreement if two requests are not met. Clubs to have complete freedom to choose the competition they want to be part of and the national teams’ ban to be lifted. If the answer is no, there ‘s no chance for an agreement. The debate is about freedom. We are not afraid of freedom. Nobody can pressure a team to play in any competition.”.
The next topic with the new Euroleague format and the idea behind it: “What we propose? That it is better for a fan to watch Olympiacos vs Maccabi Tel Aviv, compared to Olympiacos vs Kolossos Rhodes. However, we will not schedule games on weekend, we don’t want to have a quarrel with the national leagues. Yes, we are thinking of expanding the Euroleague with more clubs in the coming years, but the competition which will begin on 13-14 October will be innovative and we want to decide after that how to proceed.
We will try to promote our new project through the Eurocup. This will be not a second rate competition, it will be operated exactly like Euroleague. We will have a total of 40 teams and this is our development plan. Already we have announced 19 clubs which will play in the Eurocup (ed. note: a total of 24 clubs will play in the competition) and in the coming weeks we will announce who will get the last five spots, out of 11 candidates. We still include in those 19 clubs the Italian clubs”.
As for the wild card, Bertomeu confirmed that Dogus Darussafaka will be the 16th team of the tourament, because of the two-year agreement from last year. The Euroleague CEO does not believe that the four teams from the same country in a 16 clubs formar are an issue. “They are not representing countries, but clubs, cities and markets,” he said.
Regarding the fact that several countries are not represented any more in the Euroleague, he explained that “We adapt to the conditions. For example, when we started we had more teams from Italy and only one from Russia. Now the situation has changed. In recent years there are only two clubs from Greece, the others can not even pay the participating fee to enter the competition”.
He also stated that for five weeks during the year – during the breaks of the UEFA Champions League – each team will have to play two games in five days. The clubs agreed to give one home and one away game on the same week. The schedule will be decided on the basis of mathematical calculations and not conspiracy theories. For example Olympiacos or Panathinaikos will play Tuesday or Wednesday at home and Thursday or Friday will travel to a nearby city in Turkey, Italy or Israel.
On the host of the next Final Four, Bertomeu explained: “There are three candidate cities for the next year and many more to follow. By the end of June will be announced where the next event will be helfd and probably we will also announce the hosts for the next two years. Already there’s interest from Greece, Serbia, Turkey, Lithuania, Russia, Czech Republic and others. We must continue to promote basketball and in every market, such as Germany”.
Ioris Francini, the president of IMG, was also present and answered several questions regarding the collaboration of the company with the Euroleague. Features stressed that “we are working in collaboration with UEFA to develop the Euroleague according to the standards of the football Champions League” with Jordi Bertomeu adding that “our partnership with IMG will catapult the value of the event.”