Unicaja president criticizes the EuroLeague: 'Numbers are dizzyingly bad' / News - Basketnews.com

Unicaja's president, Antonio Jesus Lopez Nieto, said a return to the EuroLeague would be economically and sportingly harmful to the organization without much return.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Unicaja Malaga played in the EuroLeague system for multiple decades, winning the EuroCup in 2017, but made the move to the Basketball Champions League (BCL) in 2021. The move, the club's president, Antonio Jesús Lppez Nieto, says was beneficial, and the organization doesn't consider a comeback.

2-pointers this season

55%21,4Points made:21,4Accuracy:54,5%Place in standings:4Record max:30Record min:13Most made 2FGs:Kameron TaylorTeamACBStatisticsSchedule

"This season, the contract we have with the Basketball Champions League expires. The future of the club involves playing in the competition that best suits our sporting development. I do not close doors to any competition, but, for example, today, to be clear, the way the EuroLeague format is, both economically and sportingly, it does not suit us," Lopez Nieto said in a press conference earlier in the week.

"For us to make the effort to play in the EuroLeague, I think it would be negative for the club's sporting performance, in addition to the club's strategy and structure," he declared.

The return would not be financially beneficial for the club, as the club would have to spend more on players and logistics. Additionally, the squad would be subjected to a calendar that's much tougher than what they currently face in the BCL.

Lopez Nieto said that only a budget twice as big would allow the team to compete in the EuroLeague.

"Today, for example, the economic numbers of non-shareholders are dizzyingly bad. Their expenses are dizzyingly high, and their physical and sporting efforts are high. I'm not saying it [alone], coaches like Pablo Laso or the one from Virtus (Luca Banchi) say it. It's a complicated competition," Lopez Nieto said. "It's very beautiful, and they play great basketball, but they deserve a more natural sporting development."

"Right now, although we have a very solid structure as a club, we'd lack potential. We possibly have a better budget than some EuroLeague teams like ASVEL, the ones at the bottom, but we would have to spend more on trips alone. Is it worth it to be 13th or 14th?" the Unicaja president rhetorically asked. "They do not have any income from television rights. You lend yourself to playing in a competition to which you have to be invited, and if you remain in that position, it costs you, like [it was for] Baskonia [that didn't make it to] Copa del Rey for 3 years in a row or like Valencia Basket that were eliminated in the quarterfinals."

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