By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Entering the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, Zalgiris will visit Virtus Segafredo Bologna tomorrow, Thursday.
Before tipping off the continental campaign, Zalgiris director Paulius Jankunas held a press conference on Wednesday. The highlight was setting the season budget at 13 million euros.
Jankunas, 39, shared details on the financial improvements completed through the 2022-23 season. Explaining how the budget went from 11.3 million euros to 14.2 million euros led to revealing the budget for the next season.
Per the press release: “Before the first game of the EuroLeague season, Zalgiris Kaunas invited the media to Zalgirio Arena, gave an overview of last season’s results and finances, and also presented the budget, innovations, and plans for the 2023-2024 season.
Zalgiris Director Paulius Jankunas traditionally started the conference with last season’s report, where the financial figures were again pleasing: instead of the planned budget of 11.3 million euros, the club managed to raise a record amount of 14.2 million euros. This was mainly due to higher than expected revenues from TV rights, sports bonuses and, most importantly, from ticket sales.
While revenues increased, the costs of the season were also higher than planned, with €13.1 million spent instead of the planned €11.3 million, due to changes in roster and other reasons. However, the club still ended the season with a profit of €1 million, which was used to repay a loan taken out in 2021.
While taking into account the financial situation of the previous season, the slight increase in players’ and coaches’ salaries and other costs, the team’s budget for the 2023-2024 season will reach €13 million.
As every year, the Lithuanian champions are planning for a higher budget based on the contribution of their partners and the growing income from ticket sales. Already now, 4,500 season tickets have contributed €2.15 million to the club’s budget.
During the conference, Jankunas also expressed his satisfaction with last season’s attendance and the trends in ticket sales for the start of this season. Last season, Zalgirio Arena was visited by 365,575 spectators over the whole season, while the average attendance for EuroLeague games was 14,836 spectators.
A lot of attention was also paid to entertainment, youth projects, LKL family matches, social projects and licensed Zalgiris products.
The team’s sporting goals have not deviated from the course of recent years: Zalgiris will once again aim for the Betsafe-LKL championship and the King Mindaugas Cup in Lithuania, while fighting for victory in every game in the EuroLeague.
At the end of the press conference, Jankunas also answered various questions from the media.”
At the top of the 2023-24 Betsafe LKL Regular Season, Zalgiris secured a 2-0 domestic tally.