By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
With the tip of the play offs and the season getting in its most crucial stage, the courts of Euroleague are the focus of everyone. However with the ongoing effort of FIBA to get back the control of the competition, the behind the scenes moves are ongoing and even if the clubs and the athletes should be on the spotlight that’s not always the case.
On the 6th of May every GM of the big clubs and all the heads of the leagues will meet in Istanbul. Both the clubs and the leagues have engaged to talks with Euroleague in order to make the whole project even more popular and get more revenues. At this point most teams are standing by, since there’s also the FIBA Euroleague project on the horizon. However despite many rumors about bigger revenues, wealthy sponsors and a league run by the clubs – like it happens with the current state of Euroleague now – nothing has been presented yet in concrete numbers and figures.
On the other hand, as it turns out, the idea of a 16 teams Euroleague and a 30 games regular season – something that seems appealing to many teams – is a future prospect and not something that has to do with next season. It’s not so simple to cut 8 Euroleague spots in one summer and create a 37 games schedule, for those who will play in the final four, among the leagues and new national teams calendar. Even if this format prevails after the 6th of May, it will be probably used after the summer of 2016.
On the contrary the system of B licenses attribution is expected to be simplified from now out. The teams which will get the higher final spot in their domestic leagues will get the right to play in Euroleague – of course in conjuction to the 12 A license holding teams – according to the berths its league would have in the top European competition.