By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Euroleague Basketball made the decision to remove Russian clubs from the competition this season official but that doesn’t settle everything. The organization will have to make clear the course going forward past the 2021-22 campaign but, even before that, Euroleague will have to decide what to do with the financial aspect of the competition this season when it comes to the rules and money connected to Russia.
According to Mozzart Sport, Euroleague has yet to reach a consensus and the board is postponing the final decision on how to distribute the money earned by the clubs this season. The Serbian outlet’s Djordje Matic explained the core of the problematic situation.
The immediate problem that arose has been the question of what to do with the money the Russian teams earned by winning this season. Per rules, each victory in the regular season brings 37,000 net to the clubs. CSKA won 14, Zenit as well, while Unics logged 13 wins and that totals the earnings at 1,517,000 euros. That money would usually be paid to the clubs in mid-April, three weeks from now.
The obvious question is whether to pay the money and if yes, in what way, since major sanctions were imposed on Russia. A reason to avoid payment could be the exclusion from the competition, depending on the legal status, as all obligations stop in that case. However, the competition also has to take into consideration the losses that the Russian teams suffered this season and the money that other teams earned by beating them.
And the questions don’t stop there. The teams also earn money for the final ranking as well as a piece of the marketing pie. And there is also the case of inconsistent terminations when it comes to sponsors.
Euroleague publicly renounced the VTB Bank, freezing its partnership with it, but Winline and FEDCOM weren’t mentioned. Both companies are in Russian hands with Alexey Fedorychev – who is not on the list of sanctioned businessmen – being the owner of the latter. It should be noted that Fedorychev also became the President of AS Monaco Basket recently and is a citizen of Monaco.
Euroleague will have to tread carefully with their decision going forward, in order to avoid any potential lawsuits that could cost the competition too much and endanger its future. Especially in the case of CSKA which is among the owners. The changes in Euroleague’s management are also coming in the summer with Jordi Bertoimeu stepping down at the end of June, and that could also make it harder for Euroleague to reach a sound decision.