Glickman talks about EuroLeague expansion, creation of conferences / News - Basketnews.com

EuroLeague CEO Marshall Glickman says that EuroLeague expansion and the creation of conferences is inevitable.

Credit: EuroLeague Credit EuroLeague

EuroLeague CEO Marshall Glickman took part in The Crossover podcast and talked about the league's expansion, the introduction of the salary cap, and other topics.

One of the most interesting things Glickman revealed was that EuroLeague could introduce conferences.

"We have to be careful with [adding more teams] because it's what makes it so special, right?" Glickman told Joe Arlauckas in The Crossover episode. "I think more teams are inevitable, but there's not going to be more calendar, is there?"

"These teams play in their domestic leagues, I don't see that changing. You have the issue of FIBA windows to some extent. There are only so many days, and we have to take care of our players. They're our core assets.

Right now, this format that we have is fantastic, and it's the thing that propelled us to the next level… There's no magical solution, but I think we are going to have to go to conferences [in the event that more teams are added to the league].

In that scenario, maybe you play every team home and away inside your conference, and you only play the teams outside your conference home or away alternate years. Something like that. I just think we're going to have to go in that direction. It's inevitable," Glickman continued.

EuroLeague CEO also revealed that many markets are interested in joining the EuroLeague.

"The good news for us is there's demand for licenses to play in the EuroLeague from, by my count, eight different markets, and it could really be more like ten. Markets that don't have EuroLeague teams today. We want to take advantage of that. Not all of those markets are ready, but they're close to being ready," said Glickman.

Another topic that has been talked about is a salary cap. Although Glickman admitted that he doesn't like the term, he has a vision of how it could be implemented.

"I don't like the term 'salary cap'. Because it sounds like we try to restrain our players wages, which is not," said Glickman. "What I think we are talking about is the partnership with our players. It's a partnership where the players have a vested interest in the growth of the league."

"Where the collective growth as the economy of the whole thing gets bigger, so too should compensation going to the players. To me, it's very important that we connect those two," Glickman added.

EuroLeague CEO confirmed that adjusting to various markets and taxation differences is the most difficult thing, but he believes it could be done.

"The message I want [is] there should be minimums, there should be caps. Those caps do have to take into account taxation and the differences between markets. I think that can get done. But more importantly, to me, it's to express this legally and in other ways as a partnership with the players.

Big clubs that have more resources certainly we should leave just like in the NBA, the opportunity for clubs to retain their own players. Certainly, there should be certain exceptions if there is an exceptional player that could be potentially playing in EuroLeague and who's going to command higher wages. I think we want to make sure there's flexibility built into there.

Maybe there ought to be a luxury tax concept. We're exploring all of the above where for the higher payroll teams, there's money that's redistributed to the lower payroll teams. I think objective one is competitive balance or parity, but there are other objectives like financial and economic sustainability," Glickman explained in detail.

The Crossover's host Joe Arlauckas also asked about the possibility of introducing the pension to EuroLeague players. Glickman reassured that he would like to have this system in the EuroLeague.

"The framework agreement that we entered into, which I think was a very difficult thing to do giving the nature of so many countries, different taxation systems, and cultural references," Glickman began. It's brilliant because it's already beginning to improve working conditions for the players as it should."

"I'm strongly in favor of creating a pension opportunity for players over time. I want to update the framework agreement.

It's going to evolve year over year. I just met with Bostjan Nachbar – a really good guy, and we had a nice conversation. We need to develop those concepts," Glickman concluded

Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.