By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
For years, the length of EuroLeague licenses, the wildcards, and the qualification system have been a hot topic.
Even at this point, the fact that three clubs, Real Madrid, Fenerbahce, and ASVEL, have not signed the new 10-year licenses has created a lot of skepticism and can be considered fuel for the NBA Europe project.
However, this is expected to change in the near future, as the EuroLeague evolves into an even more robust corporate structure.
The word “franchises” in the title is not a coincidence. It was also used in the press release about the future roadmap of the competition, and essentially changes the whole approach to licenses or qualifying for the competition.
The clubs-shareholders will become EuroLeague franchises, even more connected to the competition, and licenses will become obsolete.
A natural and needed evolution
This seems to be a small change, but it’s not.
By becoming EuroLeague franchises, the shareholder clubs will have an even bigger tie with the competition, which already practically exists; however, it can create question marks in some cases, like it’s happening now with the new licenses that in three cases remain unsigned.
It’s a very peculiar situation, since those three clubs, even if they don’t have a license for next year yet, are still shareholders of the competition, and this complicates things even further.
So this must change. A club/shareholder should be a “franchise” totally connected with the competition without any timeframe defined by a license. This will simplify a lot of things in the decision-making process, and also, what’s already a given, that shareholders clubs should be considered part of the league no matter what, will be an official reality.
It’s not an easy task, since each EuroLeague club may have its own corporate structure depending on the country and the local laws about sports entities, but this is a key goal of the new management, which can further solidify the league.
Also, moving to franchises is the right path in order to grow the value of both the EuroLeague and the clubs to hit the 2.5B euros mark, as well as to achieve the capital injection that was presented to the EuroLeague Board, which is also also set to 2.5B euros.
It seems strange but almost overnight the level of the financial numbers connected to the EuroLeague changed, as also the scope and the ambitions of the competition. For all this to be achieved, the structural change of “franchising” is needed and it should be imminent.
Real Madrid’s stance has changed
It remains to be seen how those plans will be implemented, but the new CEO currently has the total trust of the shareholders to move forward.
And speaking of changes, the most important fact after the appointment of Chus Bueno in this role is that Real Madrid‘s stance towards the EuroLeague has totally changed. The club has not made any official comment yet, neither in favor of the NBA Europe project, despite being a common secret that they are in contact with the NBA, or for the change of the EuroLeague management.
However, according to many different sources, Real Madrid was actively involved in lobbying for Bueno to become the new CEO, and the course of action presented in the latest EuroLeague Board aligns with the plans of the Spanish club.
Of course, Madrid has not yet signed the new 10-year license, but it’s obvious that after two years of keeping their distance from the previous management, they are now much more involved in the league.
This applies even more to Fenerbahce, which has also not signed yet the new license. However, the club was already leaning more towards re-signing with the EuroLeague and having in mind that in three years, the evaluation of the competition is aimed to be 2.5B euros, is hard to think that their stance will change now.
And if the EuroLeague shareholders were already franchises, then there would not even be an issue about signing new licenses…