By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
EuroLeague still hopes to complete the season after suspending all action in March. And while having the Final Four in May at this point is a more than a long shot, as EuroLeague Chief Operating Officer Edward Scott recently said to Eurohoops, the last possible scenario to save the season might be an express-tournament, not unlikely the plans of the Chinese CBA.
As Scott said to the Spanish newspaper “El Pais”: “If due to sanitary reasons or deadlines it is not possible to play in the 18 team arenas, we would choose to concentrate all the matches in one or two gyms in a single city. The last option would be for the clubs to establish the corresponding modification of the competition format for a more direct resolution”.
If that’s the case, then according to Scott: “Players, coaches and club employees will have about three days to return from their places of confinement and get to work. Then a mandatory 14-day quarantine extension period will be enabled. And, once all the teams are ready, a brief pre-season of another two weeks would start before resuming the competition. In total, it would take practically a month before being able to resume the season, which is how the NBA worked after the 2011-12 lockout. That period guarantees the health of athletes”.
It also has to be noted that currently only Istanbul, Moscow, and Athens – in conjunction with the port of Piraeus – are the only available cities with two EuroLeague arenas. Meanwhile, Madrid’s WiZink Center already has been publicly offered to host a EuroLeague Final Eight, if that happens as a last resort possibility.
However, the big issue remains if games can be held during the summer, something that EuroLeague hopes to know until May.