Jorge Garbajosa talks improved relationship with EuroLeague, potential BCL-EuroCup merger / News - Basketnews.com

FIBA Europe President Jorge Garbajosa discussed the improved relationship between FIBA and the EuroLeague. He also talked about what led to finding a common ground and what the future holds, among many other things.

Credit: ZUMAPRESS.com-Scanpix Credit ZUMAPRESS.com-Scanpix

FIBA Europe President Jorge Garbajosa held a meeting with the European basketball media and touched on many topics.

The biggest one was the improved relationship between FIBA and the EuroLeague. Garbajosa discussed what led to finding a common ground and what the future holds, among many other things.

Read also:

Jorge Garbajosa on Dubai team in EuroLeague: 'It doesn't make too much sense' Garbajosa shares emotional reaction to Ricky Rubio's return: 'We cried together' Jorge Garbajosa discusses the US threat to European basketball

BasketNews provides the transcription of the most important answers that Garbajosa provided about the FIBA-EuroLeague relationship.

– Can we expect such windows in the future, and what's the overall climate between FIBA and EuroLeague?– First of all, let me say that we already had and will have several meetings between both FIBA Europe and EuroLeague. The atmosphere during the meetings is extremely collaborative and positive.

I have to say; sometimes it's not easy to find agreement because there are many different interests in both parties and both sides of the table. But when you have a good atmosphere and approach to the meeting with the behavior to try to find an agreement, it's much easier.

As you mentioned, with this collab [on social media] between EuroLeague and national team games, I truly believe it is good for the whole European basketball ecosystem.

I don't like to talk too much as a former player but the worst situation a player can go through is when he has to choose between playing for his national team or his club.

This February, we avoided this kind of situation. I also talked to some of the players, and I received positive messages.

However, as I said at the beginning, [the current situation] is only for this window. We have to work even harder for the next ones. But when you feel how the players are, how they received this news, and how the fans received it, it encourages you to work even harder.

We have both sides behind the table. With both parties, you have to have a clear solution because when we talk about basketball, we have to put the players and fans in the middle of everything, then the organizations and everything.

We have to work for them because the players are the ones who go to the court and give a great show for the fans. Meanwhile, fans pay for the ticket or TV to watch the games. So, we are very excited about this window.

– What potential next steps could be taken in a relationship with the EuroLeague? Maybe EuroLeague referees will be present in the international tournaments?– When we talk about the calendar, it's not only about finding a spot for the windows during the EuroLeague season. It's not that simple.

We are talking and discussing about how 3-4 competitions in Europe are too many. We are talking about the EuroLeague, BCL, EuroCup, and FIBA Europe Cup.

So, we also have to define what kind of competitions we want in Europe, combining the domestic leagues with the national leagues that have their own value and their own room to develop themselves.

We saw the ACB League. Then, we talk about not only about the Italian League but also the German League and the Turkish League. They are getting better and better, and we have to support them to be even better in the future.

As I understand, and allow me to say it this way, the domestic leagues are the bread and butter of every single day.

Then when you deserve it, you have to go to [from one] international competition to the continental competition, which means that you go out for dinner, let's say, it's a special moment.

But the domestic leagues are your day by day on a daily basis competition. So, find room for all of them, protecting the players and protecting the fans.

We have to protect the fans. The fans want to watch basketball, but sometimes they don't even know what they're watching because there are many teams, many games, and many competitions.

Jorge GarbajosaCredit FIBA

So we have to redefine all the pyramids of the competition, comparing both continental and domestic leagues plus national teams in the way that we protect the players and also increase the number of fans and encourage the fans to follow our competitions.

I truly believe that the EuroLeague is a great competition.

It's a very good competition, but the ACB, the Italian League, the German League, and the Turkish League are also extremely good competitions.

We have to redefine how to set the system up to increase the value of each player of this game or ecosystem in Europe.

We spend around €7 million directly to 50 National Federations in Europe.

We will increase it a little bit more in the next budget to support our National Federations, and this is coming from our own incomes.

Now, we are trying to get new sources of income trying to get new sponsors and investors for our competitions.

We are not doing it to increase my salary but to help the National Federations and help them out to develop new plans.

– What took it so long for FIBA and EuroLeague to finally find this solution?– I think many things changed in the previous months or even years. First of all, the man has been in all three organizations: FIBA, FIBA Europe, and also the EuroLeague. And then, the world is changing.

We have to accept the challenge of putting a normal order in the basketball ecosystem. When we work, we show each other that when we work in different ways, it's not good for basketball and its ecosystem.

Since we started to negotiate, we saw very clearly that the ecosystem received good words and worked in a positive way. It includes players, clubs, potential investors, and sponsors. So, this is very important.

I also have to say that the collaboration between FIBA and FIBA Europe is extremely positive, so that helps a lot. We also have a new man in the EuroLeague, who is Mr. Bodiroga, and Mr. Motiejunas.

Credit Jesus Orihuela/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

The clubs are also changing. New clubs are coming to the competition, there's new leadership in the competition, and we understand that we need to collaborate. What this collaboration means, we will see on the court.

Working on the same page makes a lot of sense. It's so difficult because, at the end of the day, the year has 365 days. We have to find room for the national team and international competitions in Europe. Not only the EuroLeague but also the Basketball Champions League, EuroCup, and FIBA Europe Cup.

And then there's one player that is truly important for us, which are the national leagues, the domestic leagues. It's the beginning of everything. This is where the players develop from a young age.

The national teams used to be or always are the consequence of the good health of the national domestic league. So, finding the room and combining the interests of all the organizations is not easy, but honestly, we are directed and paid to find this kind of solution.

I'm not saying it's easy at all. But things are changing. I said to all the members in the beginning that I was not as optimistic as I am today.

– What's the latest on a possible BCL and EuroCup merger?– We discussed about it in the previous meeting, and we will keep discussing about it. I would not name it 'a merger' competition because we have to define it. It is because we are talking about broadcasting contracts, the sponsorship name, sponsorship contract.

We are talking about class contracts where they participated – in this or that competition. The first reflection should be that, again, I truly believe that four competitions are too many in Europe.

So if we understand the EuroLeague as the top competition, if we understand the FIBA Europe Cup, the large competition where clubs such as Brindisi or Zaragoza are good clubs, but they need to participate in Europe to increase their value of fans, broadcasting, and so on…

What do we have in the middle?

Again, BCL shows that in eight years, it's been a great competition.

FIBA Champions LeagueCredit FIBA

Not only as you can see with the level of attendance, the level of the players, the level of the clubs.

Let me use the Spanish examples, but it could be an analogy in other countries.

You can see clubs like Tenerife or Malaga that once they start to play in the BCL, the level, not only on the domestic leagues but also attendance, sponsors, and broadcasting, also increased by far.

So, this year, it's a very good competition, and it's obvious. So, we are there as FIBA Europe, but the important thing is we have to understand that, in my personal opinion, four competitions are too many.

If we understand the FIBA Europe Cup, if we understand the EuroLeague as a mass competition, we have to really find how to combine bodies.

I have good respect for EuroCup.

But obviously, if we could find an interconnection again between the three competitions in Europe plus connected with the domestic leagues.

For me, it's important but not that important if it's a merger or if it's BCL. It's a time to find a common sense structure for our own competitions in Europe.

– How do you feel as the FIBA Europe president in a landscape where all the decisions are taken centrally under one FIBA program? Do you have the ability and flexibility to change things and work differently compared to other FIBA zones since the EuroLeague issue is mainly European?– With all due respect, allow me to correct you on one thing: EuroLeague issue is not only the European issue.

As you can see, there are many players from South America, Africa, or from all different countries playing in the EuroLeague.

Up until this window, the national teams of all these countries could not have had their players. So, [the issue] and its root was created in Europe, but it has a negative impact worldwide.

So it's not only a European issue, but obviously, when I presented my candidacy to try to become FIBA Europe president, I was very clear and very honest, and that's what I'm trying to do every single day.

FIBA Europe is a different legal entity from FIBA, but we are a part of the same family. We live under the same roof. What does it mean?

Credit FIBA

That means we have our independence to work. For example, the Women EuroLeague is 100% managed from the office in Munich. I think everybody will agree that the Women's EuroLeague is the world's most important women's basketball competition.

But not only that. EuroBasket men and EuroBasket women are managed by the office in Munich. So, we have our own independence.

But especially in these times, it's important to collaborate with FIBA. We all know the difficulties Europe is going through. We have two wars in Europe, plus many other things. So, we have to be united because we have many challenges to face.

So, it's difficult to explain, but it's easy to understand; let me put it this way. We [FIBA Europe] and FIBA are different legal entities. We are part of the same family, we collaborate and we respect each other.

At the same time, I'm very proud of basketball in Europe because Europe is and has to be the leader of basketball worldwide.

We all respect the NBA and other continents. I have an extremely good relationship with all the other presidents, but basketball is in Europe, and it probably has the best national teams. 6 of the first 8 national teams in the last World Cup were European.

So, we have overall independence, and we are very proud of it. We collaborate 100% with FIBA, and at the same time, we want to remain leaders in basketball worldwide.

– It seems that there's a huge optimism for everyone involved in the talks between FIBA and EuroLeague about the future of basketball in Europe. As a president of FIBA Europe, how do you think the future will pan out? Who will have to take a step back in order for all of this to work?– I think in every negotiation, not only in this one, if only one player have to step back a little bit if only one player, it won't be a successful negotiation.

There's a saying in Spain that for an acquisition to become successful for every party, each of them has to leave some hairs. Everybody has to give something and to lose something.

So, if we are talking about just national teams or just Europe, and just the domestic league loses something… This is never gonna happen.

We have to understand that the common agreement is good for all the parties.

We are not trying to eat a bigger part of the cake. We are trying to make the cake bigger and this is only can happen if we all collaborate. I'm not saying we have to intervene in the other competitions at all.

It's about putting together a global plan, a global landscape, and everybody finds their own spot. I have to be honest. It's a 23-24 year old issue. So it's not easy at the beginning. It doesn't mean I'm not optimistic.

I was not there, but I'm sure they tried many things to find this potential solution in the past. Did that happen? I don't want to get into that.

But we have to be creative. Now, we have to be really creative. There are many ways to organize a competition.

Credit FIBA

There are many ways to interconnect without intervening, but by interconnecting the competitions, I truly believe in giving value to the domestic leagues.

Tomas van den Spiegel is the president of ULEB and a member of FIBA Europe. He's a member of the competition commission in FIBA. And it's not because we are friends.

Now, we have our responsibilities to try to find this agreement, and I'm very proud of the collaboration with domestic leagues because, again, I'm a huge defender of the domestic leagues.

But at the same time, we need extremely good competition in Europe. This year, BCL is becoming amazing just in the 8th year of competition.

Then we have the FIBA Euro Cup, which is a very large competition; almost 35 countries participated in this competition last year.

So we have to find a spot for everyone.

Also, we have to understand the class mentality, and not only for the likes of Real Madrid.

I have huge respect for this organization, but we also have to take care of the not-that-big countries who want to have a goal to achieve, to become better, to be better every single year, to attract more investors, to attract more fans. So, I have this kind of idea of competition.

All of them coming from the domestic leagues is crucial for me again. They tried it in the past, but they didn't make it. I respect it, but we have to try to find new solutions.

And for me, the important thing is not to look only to the next step, to the next win or the next season, or to the next game. It's important to have a global view of ideas.

Where are we going to be in 2031?

This is the important thing because if there's a solution that I truly believe there is, it's not gonna be for next year; it's gonna be a step-by-step until we arrive at the pyramid that we want to get.

Honestly, this is not a matter of who will get a little more: the domestic leagues, the national federations, or the national teams.

It's a way to create a global landscape where everybody can feel represented, respected and increase their value.

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