By Alex Madrid/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid beat Valencia in a nail-biter, and the hosts of the Spanish Copa Del Rey will not have the chance to play in Sunday’s final.
However, Spanish billionaire Juan Roig, owner of Valencia Basket and also of the state-of-the-art Roig Arena, which hosted the Copa Del Rey Final-8, talked to the press and also left a comment connected to NBA Europe.
The newly built Roig Arena is probably the best in Europe, and one of the best in the world, and Roig, who paid all expenses for the construction, was more than proud: “It was the best Copa del Rey ever, proving that basketball is a fantastic sport, but it needs to be managed properly. The big challenge I set 35 years ago, which hasn’t been met, is that we would have more appeal than football; we’re quite far from that. Other teams have to build arenas like these, and with that, we’d be set, and we wouldn’t even need to play in the NBA”.
Considering that one of the NBA’s priorities for its European league is arenas, it’s safe to assume that Valencia has been contacted.
Speaking about the game, Roig added, making also a comment about referees: “It was a great game. Above all, I want to congratulate the Valencia Basket fans. We all made a great effort, and the players and coaches too. Real Madrid beat us, deservedly so, with their usual questionable plays, but that’s how it is in any match; there are always some calls in our favor and others against us, the referees are never to blame. We have to pick ourselves up and go out and win the Spanish league. Winning is easy, but you have to know how to accept defeat.”