Por Alex Molina / info@eurohoops.net
BADALONA – The Copa del Rey Badalona 2023 has come to an end. As always, this is a magical tournament that in a four-day weekend brings together what makes this sport so special: top-level basketball, fans devoted to their teams and ready to have fun, and thrilling outcomes.
As if a Copa del Rey title eighteen years later was not enough, Malaga has seen today how the prize during the weekend has been doubled. The Andalusian capital has been officially announced as the venue for the 2023-24 edition. The host will defend the crown and there is no team that deserved it more than them. Although it is too soon to say it categorically, it seems that the Costa del Sol team is once again what it was not so many years ago: a team to be reckoned with in all titles.
Real Madrid and Barça are no longer dominating
One of the most repeated chants in the Palau Olímpic talked about how many people are tired of seeing the same final year after year, featuring Barça and Real Madrid. For the first time since the 2008-09 season, neither the Blancos nor the Blaugranas won the title, but that was also the last time that neither of them made it to the final.
Badalona 2023 was history of the Copa del Rey. The fact that the ACB is the best league in Europe is out of the question and, as Chus Mateo said, the fact that none of the four Euroleague teams (nor the Eurocup) reached the final cannot surprise anyone.
A precedent that is hard to match
The main rival of Badalona and its Cup has been that the previous edition of the most anticipated title in Spanish basketball was one of the best in memory. Journalists and fans agreed that Granada was something unique and special.
The fact that it was the first edition without restrictions due to Covid-19 probably played a role and made everything more beautiful, but there is no doubt that Granada 2022 left a memory in everyone that Badalona 2023 did not achieve.
Perhaps the key was that in Granada the feeling of belonging to a community was created. The Granada fan zone was much more distributed, having to walk the beautiful streets of the Andalusian capital (with its pertinent changes in lettering in a basketball key) to visit the leisure areas. Despite this division, you would always find fans walking non-stop streets and avenues.
In addition, the Granada Sports Palace had a smaller capacity than the Olímpic, giving up a few thousand spectators but getting an amazing atmosphere that was not achieved in Badalona, neither in nor off the stadium. Without of course underestimating the experience lived in the Catalan city, which was top tier.
Too many empty seats
The controversy in the Copa del Rey started before the first match’s tip-off. The cheapest ticket to see the grand final was €96, and the most expensive was €184. High prices for the final game but that was no shocking news: the whole 4-day ticket started at €150, with the added impediment that the cheapest ones ran out very -too- quickly.
The ACB has to reconsider whether it is really worth devaluing the product at the cost of earning a few thousand more euros by raising the price of general tickets.
The fan zone, the epicenter of entertainment and shows linked to the Copa del Rey, was as always full of people who were only there to enjoy the atmosphere, with no intention of entering the arena.
In the end, the atmosphere in the Olímpic was more than good, especially in the matches in which La Penya was involved, but the general image of the stadium could have been much better.
🏀 Segundo cuarto del Real Madrid – Valencia Basket: dominio blanco y bastantes asientos libres pic.twitter.com/3MsDMBTnrR
— EurohoopsES (@EurohoopsES) February 16, 2023