By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With the competitions’ 20th season being around the corner, Euroleague Basketball’s President and CEO Jordi Bertomeu talked about the progress of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the 7DAYS EuroCup as well as what awaits in the future.
Per EuroLeague:
As the 20th season of the modern EuroLeague begins and you look back, what have been the key turning points to transform the EuroLeague into what it is today?
“It is hard to believe that 20 years have passed already, but it is a reason for satisfaction to see that the clubs managed transform their vision into reality. After 20 years, there is no question that the EuroLeague is a solid project and has positioned itself within the top sports properties in world. According to SportsBusiness, we are the second fastest-growing sports property on the market, which also proves the potential this league still has.
“The most crucial challenge we had at the beginning was to create a league culture amongst the participating teams, which was something that never existed in European sports at an international level. Understanding that everyone was a small part of a bigger project, that the group was always more important than the individual, and that competition should transform into partnership as soon as players step off the court. Luckily, we succeeded in this and that success has been the cornerstone of the league’s growth in these two decades.
“After that, we kept taking steps towards our collective vision, but the most important move we probably did was the creation of the so-called true league three years ago, one in which every team faces every other team in a round robin system which, together with our commercial partnership with IMG, has taken this property to another level.
“Now it is time to build on that, to make it even better, and to bring this amazing product closer to our fans, while making it appealing to new and younger audiences as well.
“And it is also time for a little celebration, to blow out the 20-seasons candle and look back at our history and those that have made it great. We will be seeing some things this season that will recognize and honor this history.”
Among the new developments this season are expansion with two new licenses, of course, and the new licensing criteria for 2020-21 and onwards. Can you explain why these changes were applied?
“These two changes, while they coincided in time, respond to different objectives.
“On the one hand, the expansion of two new licenses responds to the need to have a strong and stable presence in two key European markets, France and Germany. LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and FC Bayern Munich have proven to be two projects that match the EuroLeague philosophy on and off the court, and these two-year licenses should serve as a test for both the league and the clubs before hopefully moving to a permanent license. LDLC ASVEL has an ambitious ownership led by Tony Parker and Olympique Lyonnaise, while FC Bayern Munich, in its relatively short existence, has arguably established itself amongst the best clubs in Europe.
“The allocation of licenses will go through some modifications, as well, highlighted by the widened window for EuroCup teams to qualify. Instead of the champion only, both EuroCup finalists will now qualify to the EuroLeague the next season. Additionally, those EuroCup teams that qualify will be given a chance to stay in the EuroLeague beyond one season, according to their performance, which also corrects a weakness we had over the last years.
“Finally, the substitution of the spots allocated to domestic leagues by annual wild cards will help us ensure that any candidates to join the league meet the necessary standards to do so.”
In just one season, we have seen players, coaches and referees form their own unions and start talks with the league. What are, in your view, the reasons for this?
“The league has reached levels of maturity and complexity that require having clear and formal communication channels with all its stakeholders. While this was clearly established with the clubs, a counterpart serving other key pieces of the business was non-existent.
“Over the last years, the league has been very demanding with all its stakeholders to deliver the product that we have today, but to keep on evolving and improving we need to ensure we do that in a unified way and that all actors are aligned in the overall objectives while we ensure the best working conditions for everyone involved.
“We celebrate the creation of ELPA, ELHCB and UEBO greatly, as we are certain these bodies will help us build a stronger EuroLeague.”
Off the court, the league office has put a lot of emphasis in strengthening the stability of the clubs and the competitiveness amongst them. Could you please explain what these efforts consist of?
“Besides the league’s regular commercial activity, it is also our duty to establish a framework that guarantees fair competition amongst the teams, while also boosting the group to grow their individual performance. These are the two most important pillars when we talk about keeping competitive fairness and balance while also strengthening the league’s sustainability and that of its members.
“During the last season, we worked with both the clubs and external advisors to identify the most important factors that may create unbalanced business opportunities in different territories. The conclusion of this work was that whilst it is evident that there are important differences between the taxation regulations that exist in different markets, the market conditions and the potential opportunities that these create for clubs to generate resources tend to compensate those differences. In a nutshell, markets with high tax levels normally offer better conditions to develop the business and vice-versa. Therefore, it was concluded that the real factor that may affect the balance of the competition was the so-called shareholder contributions, or those revenues that are not directly generated by the market, and it was agreed to take action and establish strict rules in this regard. The clubs decided to progressively decrease the allowed shareholders contribution over the next years with the objective of taking it down from 65% to a maximum of 40% in the 2022-23 season with sanctions, similar to the American “luxury taxes”, that range from 10% to 180% of the overspend. Those sanctions would then be distributed amongst the compliant teams.
“On the other side, we firmly believe it is equally important to proactively work at helping the clubs grow their market revenues. That is why we created EuroLeague BOCS (Business Operations and Club Services), which is a unit that is exclusively devoted to share information amongst the clubs, research best practices in the world of sports and entertainment applicable to the EuroLeague, and develop league-wide and individual plans to grow the business in every vertical. After two years, EL BOCS is now intensifying its activity and all clubs have embraced it as an opportunity to take their business performance to the next level.”