By Eurohoops team / info@Eurohoops.net
Following Marshall Glickman’s announcement of departure from the EuroLeague when his contract will expire on July 31, we already have the newest Turkish Airlines EuroLeague CEO. The current General Manager of Zalgiris Kaunas Paulius Motiejunas, in fact, took this role.
Per EuroLeague Basketball:
Euroleague Basketball announced on June 15 that Dejan Bodiroga will remain as Euroleague Basketball President while Paulius Motiejunas will be the new acting Chief Executive Officer for the 2023-24 season.
Dejan Bodiroga, who was appointed Euroleague Basketball President on September 14, 2022, will continue to focus on increasing the quality of the competition for clubs, players, fans, partners and all EB stakeholder while playing a key role in strengthening relationships with the wider basketball community, including the EuroLeague Players Association, the EuroLeague Head Coaches Board, the Union of Euroleague Basketball Officials, FIBA, domestic leagues and other basketball-related institutions.
Motiejunas, 42, was unanimously appointed by Euroleague Basketball shareholders and will replace Marshall Glickman, who was acting CEO during the 2022-23 season.
Motiejunas has extensive experience within the Euroleague Basketball ecosystem, having spent most of his career to date in various capacities with Euroleague Basketball shareholder Zalgiris Kaunas. He started with Zalgiris in 2007 as the director of communications, later became general manager, and has been the club president and owner since 2013. He is also the director of Zalgirio Arena.
Under Motiejunas’s management, Zalgiris has experienced some of its most successful moments on the court by qualifying multiple times to the EuroLeague Playoffs and reaching the Final Four for the first time this century in 2018. Zalgiris has thrived by developing some of Lithuania’s top young prospects and combining them with a mix of the country’s best and most experienced players and foreign talents looking to take their careers to the next level.
Off the court, too, Motiejunas brought the club to a new level, positioning Zalgiris among the EuroLeague leaders in ticket sales and revenue growth while boasting a legendary game-day experience at one of the finest arenas on the continent.
Paulius was recognized by his peers with the EuroLeague Executive of the Year award over two consecutive seasons, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Motiejunas will have to distance himself from his duties with the green-and-white club in order to start working alongside Dejan Bodiroga. Paulius Motiejunas, who owns 75% of Zalgiris Group, which has the basketball club under its control, took over the legendary team back in 2013.
A sign of things to come
Recently, Motiejunas said that he truly believes an expansion will come in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. “I think it’s inevitable. I think we will get there, the problem is now the calendar which we keep talking about, and also the national competition which we also are talking about“, he told Eurohoops in an interview during the 2023 Final Four in Kaunas.
During the interview with Eurohoops, he also commented positively on a potential new team in Dubai.
“Like I said many times, I liked it when we had the trip to Dubai. They showed the arena, and we saw who is behind the project and it looks normal, stable, and looks like it has potential. So we have to analyze it and we are analyzing it. If you fly charter for us is just a couple of extra couple hours so I don’t see a problem going to Dubai because they have a great facility, they have great accommodations, they will take great care of the teams, so there are many advantages and to say no to them because you have to spend two extra hours back and forth on the plane, it doesn’t sound like a reasonable argument for me”, Paulius Motiejunas said.