By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Following a meeting held today in Istanbul, the EuroCup Board reached certain decisions regarding next season’s team lineup. The 2017-2018 clubs might include the two Basketball Champions League finalists since EuroCup announced that it will grant access to these teams.
The related announcement is as follows:
Istanbul hosted a EuroCup Board meeting ahead of the Finals Game 2 that will see Darussafaka Istanbul and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar compete for the Continental crown.
Board members received an update in the progress of the competition, focused on the competitiveness and turnstile attendance of the competition. Clubs and Domestic Leagues also heard from Euroleague Basketball executives regarding the first season of centralized media rights commercialization and production with league partners IMG.
Attendees reviewed the significant improvements derived from dedicated and extensive live and digital production structure that has been put in place, which allowed for further uniformity and enhanced quality of the audio-visual product. They also heard that the EuroCup achieved highly satisfactory results in revenue as well as distribution, reaching 140 countries and territories. Games from the full season are also available in every corner of the globe through the EuroLeagueTV OTT platform for the first time.
Euroleague Basketball executives shared details surrounding the recently announced 2019-20 EuroLeague expansion, while they also discussed future plans of potentially expanding the access from EuroCup into the EuroLeague.
Board members reviewed proposed changes to the Bylaws, whilst they also approved the following access criteria for the 2018-19 7DAYS EuroCup, based on Domestic League final standings after the Playoffs:
Adriatic League (3)
France (2)
Germany (2)
Greece (1)
Italy (2)
Lithuania (1)
Poland (1)
Russian Federation (3)
Spain (3)
Turkey (2)
Basketball Champions League (2)
Wild Cards (2)
The access for both Basketball Champions League finalists follows the system that was in place from 2008-12, when the EuroChallenge finalists had access to the following season’s EuroCup.
The 2018-19 EuroCup Draft Calendar was also submitted for discussion, with clubs and domestic leagues debating options to ensure a break between the Regular Season and Top 16 phases of the competition, which was not possible in 2017-18.
All the discussed topics will be submitted to the next ECA Shareholders Meeting for formal approval.