Writing from Berlin: Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu welcomed everyone in the Berlin 2016 Final Four and in his speach he spoke about the future of the competition – “the beginining of a new era” – which the despute with FIBA can’t stop.
As he said: “We are not going to pay attention or be distracted with disputes. We have a strong determination and a strong commitment from our clubs and its owners to focus only on what matters to our fans: good games, great talents, great coaches, a professional organization and an excellent competition, an excellent European League”.
Here’s the full text of his welcome speach: “Welcome to our 15th Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four. It is a very special one for us this year. We are about to finish the season, a very exciting one with a lot of drama and above all, a lot of action to offer to our fans. This is thanks to an outstanding performance from our 24 clubs all over the season. We will have four clubs here in Berlin and no doubt, they are the ones who deserve to be here. We have very different types of clubs. We have a traditional Final Four club like CSKA, a newcomer with an amazing story like Lokomotiv Kuban, getting to the Final Four in its second Euroleague season, and a couple of classic Euroleague teams, Fenerbahce and Laboral Kutxa, which is back to our main event after 8 years. We are back in Berlin after our first experience in 2009. There will have two main meeting points – the first one is this one, Alexanderplatz, in the city center, and the second is the magnificent Mercedes-Benz Arena. Along with this Final Four, every year we have many different activities. We have the Fanzone here in Alexanderplatz in which fans will be able to interact with players, legends and young talents from our junior teams. We also have the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION tournament and a coaches clinic with more than 2000 participants and of course, as in every year, we have our Social Responsability program, One Team, thanks to the great cooperation with our coaches, players and clubs.”
“The Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four will be a sold out event. As in every year, we get wide distribution and a huge audiencie thanks to our 73 TV broadcasters will allow us to reach around 200 countries, confirming once again that the Final Four is a global event and the fans are in the center of every team in Euroleague Basketball, in the center of all of our strategy. This is why next season we will launch a new Euroleague. We are proud of what we did in the last 16 years, this is why this Final Four, the last in this age, is very special for us. It is the beginning of a new era. From next October, the first European basketball league will take the stage. The best teams in Europe will play during six months of competition, with our fans enjoying all European teams playing each other. Without a doubt, it is the biggest decision the clubs have taken in Euroleague Basketball history and the culmination of the vision we had from the very beginning to create a true European League. That goes hand by hand with our partner, IMG, with whom are committed to offer our fans a brilliant future. We are not going to pay attention or be distracted with disputes. We have a strong determination and a strong commitment from our clubs and its owners to focus only on what matters to our fans: good games, great talents, great coaches, a professional organization and an excellent competition, an excellent European League. The Final Four is an amazing event, the showcase of European basketball, and everything happens thanks to our players, coaches, clubs, referees, media and partners and thanks to our main sponsor, Turkish Airlines, who is helping us to make everything possible. Thank you and enjoy the Final Four.”