By Kostas Paraskevopoulos/ info@eurohoops.net
Makis Aggelopoulos, the owner of AEK, spoke to Greek media including Eurohoops about the NBA Europe project, discussing a possible collaboration between the NBA and the EuroLeague.
While both the NBA and the EuroLeague haven’t made any comment about the proposal made by the US league, Aggelopoulos stated that essentially the offer made is a buyout.
As he said: “There is certainly a proposal from the NBA to the EuroLeague. The proposal definitely involves absorbing the EuroLeague. Essentially, they are discussing the abolition of the competition. Shareholders get their money, and it ends. If this scenario occurs, it will cause a delay. I don’t think this can happen within a year. The proposal is that if I buy you, you close shop. The EuroLeague is the definition of unfair competition in Europe. If this existed in, for example, the IT sector, there would have been a revolution. The shareholder teams don’t allow anyone to breathe.
Many asked me why I don’t go to the EuroCup; I asked about the finances. 100,000 from television rights. Panathinaikos and Olympiacos each get 4 million. They are shareholders. You are not a shareholder. There is a clause stating that 87-88% of the revenue goes to the shareholders. Bourg took it and didn’t enter. Gran Canaria did the same. We played one year in the EuroCup. We talked about the plan later in a meeting in Barcelona. They wanted the weekend prime time. EuroLeague and EuroCup to play on the weekend. National championships should be moved to Tuesday-Wednesday to earn 35 million. That was our big clash, and I got up and left. That was the EuroLeague’s logic. To dismantle national championships for 35 million.”
He also gave his opinion about NBA Europe project.
“In the NBA, you have two paths. Europe or Championship. Qualifiers, if you are 5th in Greece. It gives you a 25% chance to dream. It will get exactly what the other NBA teams get. For example, each win gets 500,000 euros. The same for all teams. In the EuroLeague, it is not like this. If Peristeri succeeds, for example, they have the right to dream of earning 30 million in the NBA. Commercially, the EuroLeague is a complete failure. It didn’t enter large markets like London. In the 52 billion market in Europe commercially, basketball has 0.01%. The proof is that teams don’t make money either.”
On the limit of foreign players
“Seven foreigners and five homegrown will be in NBA Europe. In the EuroLeague, you can play with 12 Americans. Where is the development of European basketball? In the last 8 years, there have been 8 different champions in the NBA. That is our success, Tatum recently told me.”
Aggelopoulos also spoke about the ways AEK can play in NBA Europe.
“We have put all our focus on the license. The second way is through the BCL, or the third branch is the two Final Fours in June, with a total of 8 teams. Two groups of four, and the two winners will enter. We are also candidates to host a Final Four there. But we have focused all our efforts on the license. If we don’t succeed, we will do whatever it takes to be competitive. The NBA gives you an adaptation period of 3-5 years, but it wants you to commit to investing 1.5 billion in arenas. When the process started, I said we have a 5% chance of entering. Now I see it as 50-50%.”
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