BCL CEO on Monaco and Virtus move to EuroLeague: 'It doesn't help to promote European basketball' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

One day before the upcoming Basketball Champions League final, the CEO of the competition, Patrick Comninos held a press conference, answering a bunch of questions about the tournament and European basketball in general.

One of the hottest topics in recent years was FIBA, Basketball Champions League, and EuroLeague cooperation with the NBA.

Comninos once again clarified that all parties are looking for the best solution for everyone, trying to find ways on improving the situation.

"It is true that since last summer FIBA took the initiative to extend an invitation both to EuroLeague teams and management and to the NBA to sit around the table and finally try to figure out a best possible way to approach this situation," Comninos began an answer to BasketNews question.

"The most important message is that everybody agrees that something needs to change. Nobody looks at the current landscape and says, 'This is fine, it works perfectly, everybody is happy, commercially it all makes sense, we are making a lot of money, let's leave it as it.' Not a single person in the room has such an opinion.

At least there's a consensus there about the need of establishing the level of clarity, certainty, distinguishing, and relevance of national teams or domestic competition.

It's a very important step forward. Of course, we want to continue these discussions and both FIBA and BCL are strongly committed to finding solutions and we are pleased that NBA also accepted the invitation and is willing to offer its know-how, experience, and expertise on how to approach these situations.

Personally, I am optimistic that once the season is over, we will have a chance to sit back at the tables and examine ways to continue making basketball in Europe even better," Comninos said.

He also received a question about former BCL teams like Monaco or Virtus Bologna leaving FIBA competition for the EuroLeague. Comninos thinks such a situation shows another problem.

"The fact that teams like Monaco or Virtus have made a change in their selection of participation in European competition, is a part of a greater problem that exists. The fact that there's no certainty, security, consistency or clarity as to how teams participate in Europe," Comninos noted.

Credit FIBA

"We have this inevitable, but unfortunate situation every April, May, and June when teams are shopping and moving around and trying to find their own bearings. Usually, they are based on ambitions, but also past experiences. In this season's Basketball Champions League, we had 3 of the last 5 EuroCup winners.

Teams that won EuroCup and played in EuroLeague had that short-lived experience because winning the EuroCup gives you the chance to participate in EuroLeague for one season.

The key message that I take from this situation is that it doesn't help to promote European basketball. It doesn't help provide clarity and certainty which is required in order to commercialize a brand much better. At one point we shouldn't be looking at individual cases, but we should look at a whole ecosystem.

We as BCL are very happy that over the last 6 seasons we had more than 130 clubs playing in the Basketball Champions League and we've been able to walk with them in building some great stories," Comminos added.

Basketball Champions League CEO also emphasized that BCL is not trying to poach any clubs or create conflicts with others and approaches things in a constructive manner.

"It's a good opportunity to clarify things: we are not trying to convince anyone. We are trying to create a forum where all the participants can exchange opinions and if there's a meeting of minds, come out with a common approach.

We are not trying to convince clubs to come under the FIBA umbrella. There's a misunderstanding, perhaps. We respect what EuroLeague has created. It's not an attempt to change the structure or put teams under one or other umbrella. The question is how do we do it in a manner that helps everyone.

What we have seen is an attempt to create an environment that helps a handful of clubs. But perhaps it does not help neither these few clubs [Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Baskonia were mentioned in the question], nor the entire ecosystem. So, in the end, everybody suffers. So, we're trying to find out what is an ideal setup," he concluded.

Full press conference:

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