By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
VTB league’s president Sergei Ivanov (photo) who is also the former Russian minister of defense, announced the budgets of the Russian clubs in the competition. That’s how for the first time we have an official statement about the money spend, specially by Euroleague powerhouse CSKA Moscow.
According to Ivanov, CSKA’s budget is close to two billion rubles, 1.836.700.000 to be exact, and that translate to close to 38 million euros, or if you prefer the exact number, 37.999.143 euros. The other Russian Euroleague participant, Lokomotiv Kuban, spends 833,4 m. rubles, (17,2 m. euros) and in Eurocup the number for Khimki is 685,1 m. rubles (14,2 m. euros), for Unics Kazan 550 m. rubles (11,4 m. euros) and for Nizhny Novgorod 279,3 m. rubles (5,7 m. euros).
As Ivanov explained all those teams are losing money, however CSKA and Nizhny are not getting any financial help from the state.