ASVEL's vice-president confident of the club's growth and off the court / News - Basketnews.com

ASVEL's vice-president Gaetan Muller thinks the French club can increase its budget over the next years based on sponsorship deals and the construction of a new arena.

Credit: imago images / PanoramiC Credit imago images / PanoramiC

While the new arena is under construction, LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne are planning for the future intending to reach a budget of 20 million euros in five years.

3-pointers this season

35%6,9Points made:6,9Accuracy:35,4%Place in standings:18Record max:12Record min:3Most made 3FGs:Nando De ColoTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

In one summer, AS Monaco raised the amount given for salaries from 14.1 to 20.7 million euros in the annual budget. However, that's a very different financial model from the other French representative in the Euroleague, ASVEL, who relies more on linear progression.

Their budget for the 2022-2023 season is 15.8 million euros, only 5% up compared to last season (15.1 million euros). The club's vice-president, Gaetan Muller, talked about the future projections in an interview with 'Progres'.

"When we came in 2014, we had a 5-million euro budget. We tripled it. We receive 8 million from our sponsorship deal, which places us first in France and among the first places in Europe," Muller said.

"This shows our development. There is work to be done, but we are closer to a 20-million budget, which we aim for in five or seven years, than we were to a 15-million budget eight years ago. The club's development is progressing and now we want to move up a gear," the French exec continued.

Without counting on possible support from the owner of Olympique Lyon, John Textor, ASVEL make ends meet on the income that will be generated by the new Arena (12,000 seats for basketball games), which should be ready by the autumn of 2023, ahead of the initial deadline.

"The 5,500-seat Astroballe is not even 50% of the capacity of the LDLC Arena. We want to gather people and provide them with a special experience. We want to be a popular and premium club. In the new arena, we will have 1,500 to 2,000 VIP seats," Muller told SportBuzzBusiness.fr.

"Now, the objective is to offer the arena with the best customer-basketball experience in Europe," Gaetan Muller told La Tribune de Lyon at the start of the week.

"It will allow us to double the capacity, increase our revenue, and will bring a lot of benefits in terms of marketing, and merchandising. We are going to seek a EuroLeague title in the medium or long term," he concluded.

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