By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Octagon Europe Senior Director Georgios Dimitropoulos issued a statement on the guidelines that the BAT ( Basketball Arbitral Tribunal) released regarding the complicated situation that has been created due to the coronavirus pandemic:
The statement is as follows:
We have been following the situation with COVID-19 since its initial outbreak. We believe this is a unique opportunity for Clubs, Players, Coaches, Agents, to reach amicable settlements in the spirit of fairness and in the spirit of a global crisis not seen in over 100 years. A crisis that none of us has lived in our lifetime.
Clubs around the world are losing money from all possible revenue streams. Tickets, sponsors, TV money, media buys. Clubs, their owners, their presidents and their GMs are the best business partners our players have and vice-versa! We need to view them as long-time companions and they need to view us the same way. Our businesses do not thrive without each other. This should not be a battle between us and them. This is a battle between humanity and a virus. A pandemic that is affecting the entire globe, killing hundreds of thousands of people, destroying global and local economies. This is a crisis that will take years to recover from. Our thoughts should be with all of the people affected by this.
BAT’s statement has a logical, fair approach. It is clear that consequences of the COVID-19 cannot be allocated just to the Clubs, however, this does not touch salaries that were to be paid prior to the Lockdown Period. There are certain prerequisites that parties need to meet, in order to define the deduction on last months’ salaries and bonuses. Most important, all parties have a duty to negotiate in good faith and not proceed with “take-it-or-leave-it” policies, which would never gap the distances. Another thing, in leagues where players have been paid upfront money upon signing or are receiving image contract payments, they have lesser monthly installments, which makes it hardest to achieve a fair horizontal haircut. It will be an even bigger necessity to reach an amicable settlement in such cases, since BAT is clear that no discrimination against a player or a coach will be accepted. Let’s also not forget that we live in different countries, with different fiscal environments and legislations.
Despite most people focus on what happens with Euroleague players and salaries, we would like to emphasize on what will happen to the “middle class” players. This is the perfect timing for us all (FIBA, Euroleague, ELPA or other players’ unions, Agents) to come together and build for our better future, by deciding to take drastic measures against Clubs that historically try to find ways to avoid paying players. We urge FIBA to take initiatives and launch a platform where clubs that are repeat offenders in non-payment to players will be punished severely, whether by disqualifications, relegations, punitive penalties or other initiatives. We all know that they will be the first ones to take advantage of this crisis. The basketball community should not keep accepting clubs that have lost numerous BAT cases and still continue to participate in their local competitions and European competitions. It’s time for us all to draw a line here! In time, we shall make detailed suggestions to FIBA over this issue.
We are facing a potential tectonic shift here in Euroleague, FIBA and local leagues. We don’t really know when the new season will start and most important when it may finish. Should we prepare ourselves for whatever plan B? Could that be a 3-4 month season? A season without fans? What if we, as many experts predict, are not back to normal when the ’20-’21 season is supposed to start? What if sponsors dramatically lower their advertisement on jerseys and on TV? How much will this affect Clubs’ budgets and our players’ salaries? For all the above, we do believe that these are times that we need to stick to each other. This, too, shall pass.