By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
We are at the year 2016 and big changes are coming in the European club basketball scene. The new Euroleague format will be a reality in nine months and key figures of the clubs which are the core of the new project explain why they needed this change.
Livio Proli, the president of EA7 Emporio Armani Milano, who is also the general manager of the “Giorgio Armani S.p.A.” company believes that the long term strategy is the key: “The new Euroleague will allow teams to set up plans with long-term goals. The added benefit will be the chance to play every year against all the best European teams. So all the fans can watch live our league’s greatest stars and teams can develop healthy rivalries during the course of the seasons. This is great for our sport: the new Euroleague will look more and more as a top-level competition both on and off the court. Stability will give us the opportunity to develop strategies to promote our product in the best possible way. The clubs are more than ready to handle their own product and launch the Euroleague into a new era”.
Fenerbahce Istanbul’s general manager Maurizio Gherardini more than agree:”The new format is the natural evolution of the most successful club competition outside of the NBA.It will bring more excitement from the entire basketball community based on the opportunity to have the very best teams facing each other. And the result of this would not only bring more focus on this competition, more quality and more resources, but also I think it will benefit the basketball community in general. So I think it’s an important step forward for European basketball.”
The president of Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz, Josean Querejeta, one of the key figures in Spanish basketball who is in charge of a team in small city is emphasizing the financial aspect of the deal with IMG: “We are talking about a historic moment for European basketball. The important point is that the big European clubs have decided our own future and we have signed a very valuable deal with IMG. This agreement will allow our teams to have more resources and above all – and this is very important – a lot of money will be used to promote the new league, a league that will be able to assure fans from all cities that they can see in person the best teams on the continent every year.”
The president of Maccabi Tel Aviv Shimon Mizrahi believes that this is a “revolution” for European basketball: “The Euroleague’s decision to make changes in the structure of the league and increase the number of games is an historic one which constitutes a revolution in European basketball, with 16 teams of which 11 are guaranteed a place by their possession of an A License. At least 30 games will be played in a season, during which each team will face all of the other teams in the league at least twice. This fact will guarantee that none of the participating teams will find itself out of the league by the start of January. These are welcome developments, and indeed this is an historic innovation which will bring about a huge leap forward in European basketball. I would like to thank the Euroleague management and its leader, Jordi Bertomeu, for bringing about this tremendous step. We, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, are proud to be one of the 11 leading teams which belong to this vital organization called the Euroleague. ”
Last but not least, Zalgiris Kaunas general manager Paulius Motiejunas also is content for the 10 year horizon of the new project:”It is a great achievement as now there is a stable foundation set out for the next 10 years in European basketball. It is a big step forward and the partnership with IMG will help the Euroleague to grow. The new format is very attractive for the clubs and for the fans. Now we will have a chance to meet all the best Euroleague teams at our arenas. Zalgiris Kaunas is very happy to be among those teams. It shows that our work and commitment was done in the right way and we are excited to be a part of this historical development.”