Amidst FIFA World Cup hype, EuroLeague only wants to stay relevant / News - Basketnews.com

BasketNews explores the various ways in which the football World Cup in Qatar can impact the EuroLeague and its diverse fanbase.

Credit: AFP-Scanpix, EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImage Credit AFP-Scanpix, EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImage

Whether one might call it football or soccer, one thing is certain: regardless of how many strides basketball has made in recent decades, it still has a long way to go to catch up to the world's pre-eminent sport.

While FIFA World Cup is a global phenomenon filled with excitement and drama, with every game being broadcasted into homes across the globe, basketball pales in comparison, especially since FIBA and the EuroLeague have proven to be unwilling and incapable of finding a solution.

Although there are a few signs that basketball is closing the gap on football's claim as the world's most popular sport, by just about any measure of popularity - from revenue to viewership to social media - football's lead seems insurmountable.

For any company, the FIFA World Cup is an almost unrivaled opportunity to boost sales and entrench their brand in the hearts of millions of fans - especially when the home nations do well.

The tournament has been held in June and July in each of its previous 21 incarnations. Yet, this year's FIFA World Cup presents everyone with a different situation.

Qatar's scorching heat means the tournament has moved away from its typical summer slot into November and December, with the final due just one week before Christmas Day. Due to the climate in the Middle Eastern nation, we will see the first-ever winter World Cup.

Credit Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

Given the compact nature of Qatar, for the first time, event organizers could assign group stage games to a stadium and kick-off time for each matchday after the final draw.

It allowed to optimize the match schedule for the benefit and comfort of spectators, teams, media, and the global audience. A total of 64 games will be played to decide the competition's winners.

There will be up to four matches daily during the group stage staggered throughout the day. The only games that will overlap are the ones played on the final day of the group-stage phase, and that's purely for competitive integrity.

Every time zone in the world will get a chance to watch fixtures at decent times throughout the day. As far as Europe goes, the continent is well-served, with at least one game being held in the evening.

Credit REUTERS/Rebecca Naden

For many indoor and outdoor leisure activities, the World Cup staging means they have to compete for the attention that football soaks up for almost an entire month. For instance, there's strong evidence that cinema and theatre box office receipts can drop off sharply when a country's national team is playing in the finals.

But what happens when EuroLeague games coincide with FIFA World Cup fixtures? That's an unprecedented treaty, even though basketball hasn't been blacked out entirely in football's most devoted strongholds, particularly in Europe.

Spain, Germany, France, and Serbia are among the countries that are home to solid EuroLeague clubs whilst being represented in the World Cup.

Although the EuroLeague isn't nearly as globalized as the NBA, basketball remains the world's second-biggest sport. That being said, some EuroLeague sides have already done their homework ahead of the biggest sporting event besides the Olympic Games.

EuroLeague Rounds 9, 10, and 11 will be the first test. When France takes on Australia on Tuesday (Nov. 22) night (20:00 CET), one EuroLeague game (AS Monaco-Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul) will be underway, while five more will tip off between 20:00 and 20:45.

On Wednesday, Retin Obasohan and Ismael Bako will miss Belgium's game vs. Canada at 20:00, as their teams (LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, Virtus Segafredo Bologna) will be tested in the EuroLeague.

Ahead of Thursday, Crvena Zvezda asked for their Round 10 home game vs. Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv to be played earlier (17:30 CET) than originally planned (19:00), as the Serbia football team will be suiting up against Brazil that same night.

Except for Zvezda's game, all the other EuroLeague showdowns will be disputed again after 20:00, in a schedule that also overlaps with the England-USA World Cup outing on Friday.

Credit ABA League j.t.d./Dragana Stjepanovic

EuroLeague Round 11 will be held on December 1-2, when Japan-Spain, Costa Rica-Germany, Serbia-Switzerland, and Cameroon-Brazil games have been scheduled, all kicking off at 20:00.

Although ALBA Berlin will host FC Barcelona at 18:30 on Dec. 1, it's likely that the German club will ask for their game to be moved half an hour earlier to avoid the overlap with their national team.

The same goes for Zvezda, whose home game vs. Virtus Bologna on Dec. 2 coincides with the Serbia football team's fixture, and Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, who play the same time Spain faces Japan.

From that point on, the situation tends to be normalized. The FIFA World Cup will enter its knockout stage, games will be fewer, and the only date that there might be a clash with the EuroLeague schedule is on Friday, Dec. 9, when one of the four quarter-finals will be played.

"It's clear that we are facing a different situation in which sports organizations lack a point of reference since it's the first time that an event of the magnitude of the World Cup is taking place in the middle of the traditional league calendar," concedes Alex Ferrer Kristjansson, Euroleague Basketball's Marketing, and Communication Senior Director.

Within the EuroLeague realm, Ferrer Kristjansson has been immersed in different initiatives, most related to marketing. Later, he was appointed to head the Marketing and Communication area, leading the organization in strategic marketing, brand, media, content, and digital operations, among others.

That's why he's the right person to explain how EuroLeague will address the challenges presented by the FIFA World Cup.

Credit Francesco Richieri/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

"For our part, we have tried to avoid the coincidence between the matches of our teams and their respective national teams," he continues.

"If we look at the schedule of EuroLeague regular season Rounds 9, 10, and 11, which coincide with the World Cup group stage, that overlap affects 6 out of the 27 contests that will be played in those three Rounds.

Hence, I think we've minimized that impact within the traditional limitations of our arenas' availability, while nine of our clubs come from countries represented in the World Cup."

Those nine teams come from five countries. Spain has four (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Baskonia, Valencia Basket); Germany has two (ALBA Berlin, Bayern Munich); Serbia another two (Crvena Zvezda, Partizan); France has one (ASVEL).

For now, six World Cup matches in the group stage coincide with EuroLeague fixtures. Hence the question of whether more games are likely to be rescheduled soon. How much flexibility is there to accommodate everyone's requests?

"Our schedules have already been adjusted to avoid greater overlaps," says Ferrer Kristjansson. "Other changes have been attempted, but due to limited arena availability, they have yet to be confirmed.

However, we are open to time or date changes once the World Cup elimination stages are set. It's very important for us to work side by side with our TV partners to find solutions that can benefit us all whilst giving our fans the greatest number of opportunities to consume the available content," the EuroLeague executive adds.

Credit picture alliance / SvenSimon

Ferrer Kristjansson, who oversaw the development of the EuroLeague's commercial and brand strategy in collaboration with Deloitte's Sports Business Group, thinks that the discussion shouldn't be focused on whether the EuroLeague and the World Cup will collide but rather on how the former can reap some benefits of the parallel hosting of the latter.

"The model in which a fan only follows one event has become anachronistic, given the current technological possibilities," he points out.

"Nowadays, the use of the multi-screen has become a habit in the vast majority of households," Ferrer Kristjansson continues. "Our right holders are aware of it and offer streaming solutions that complement the traditional broadcast model, expanding the options fans can choose from so that they can follow different events simultaneously."

More than seven years after striking an important deal with IMG, the EuroLeague has entered the next stage of its transformation, delivering unparalleled fan experiences and engagement that align with the expectations of modern fans, from Gen Z to Millennials.

The next growth stage for the league is aimed at increasing the focus on fan-centered innovation and digital transformation, ensuring sustainable financial and brand growth on behalf of the clubs and commercial partners.

As fans continue to be at the epicenter of every business strategy, the FIFA World Cup could provide the EuroLeague with a bigger pool of followers.

Credit Regina Hoffmann/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

The most obvious way to achieve that would be through the league's marketing strategies and targeted social media campaigns so that the two competitions are closely related.

For instance, more emphasis could be placed on the teams and players whose countries (Spain, Serbia, France, Germany) partake in the World Cup.

Ferrer Kristjansson thinks that although the World Cup will monopolize a large part of the conversation on traditional media and social networks, other sports will continue, as usual, developing their own content and communication strategies.

"As a sports property, the EuroLeague cannot and should not be absent from this conversation," he stresses. "We always evaluate possible collaborations focusing on current topics, to offer interesting content to our fans. The World Cup falls under this category."

In contrast to their US-based counterparts, EuroLeague followers are also keen on watching -predominantly- football, as well as tennis, cycling, and motorsports. According to multiple surveys, the relationship that basketball supporters maintain with football - and, by extension, with the World Cup - is very close.

However, Ferrer Kristjansson holds that more than that kind of data is needed to showcase the possible impact of the World Cup on the EuroLeague.

As the current generation of fans is used to watching the highlights instead of the entire game, their short attention span can often accommodate bits and pieces from different sports and competitions.

In this sense, two events held simultaneously can develop a symbiotic relationship.

"In today's society, the offer of sports and leisure, in general, is cumulative and not binary," the Barcelona-born executive underlines.

"According to the data we have, more than 70% of EuroLeague fans follow 11 other sports events. This means that a sports fan doesn't need to choose between football and basketball or between the World Cup and the EuroLeague.

Fans can watch both at the same time; watch one event live and the other on delay, or follow one game on social media while tuning in to the other game through their living room screen. There are infinite possibilities, which are not mutually exclusive."

In this vein, the EuroLeague will strive to keep its product attractive in the eyes of fans in a period when all football leagues (including the UEFA Champions League) will be on halt.

Alex Ferrer Kristjansson says this one-month break can benefit the EuroLeague, which can saturate its fanbase with basketball-related content, especially when there's no action in Qatar.

"Undoubtedly, there are ways of promotion. For example, many of our television right-holders, who also own the rights to domestic leagues or European football competitions but not to the World Cup, will need to cover a one-month gap," he notes.

EuroLeague's head of Marketing and Communications stresses that networks will have to do without some of their premium (football) content, which can "open a window of greater exposure to all the EuroLeague content that continues to be held and shown weekly."

Whether EuroLeague's co-existence with the World Cup will be constructive for Europe's top basketball competition remains to be seen. The relatively low number of EuroLeague countries represented in the tournament held in the Middle East doesn't mean that the rest of the (basketball) world won't be watching.

Some days ago, many protested that the FIBA windows weren't a good enough reason for games to be rescheduled and for players to join their national teams smoothly without hurdles.

Well, the same people can now find it somewhat amusing that even for a couple of weeks, this World Cup might give the EuroLeague a taste of its own medicine.

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