By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The EuroLeague board meeting in Istanbul on the 24th of October was already scheduled and it was expected to be a key discussion for the future of the competition.
However, the current situation in Israel happened and this changed the whole agenda. EuroLeague had to face the urgent need to deal with Maccabi‘s home games, there were safety concerns voiced by many parties involved even for the road games, but ultimately the decision was for Maccabi to use Belgrade as their home base for the time being.
The talks about this issue dominated the meeting and left little room for anything else.
While no vote was taken on the issue, it overshadowed everything else.
And that’s why the talks for a possible expansion never happened, despite the fact that time is already of the essence.
It was widely believed that after the Paris Olympics, the sanctions against Russian athletes, clubs, and federations would be lifted, creating an urgent need for expansion due to the imminent return of CSKA Moscow in the tournament if not of other Russian clubs.
But with the decision of the IOC on the 12th of October to suspend the Russian Olympic Committee for recognizing regional sports organizations from four territories annexed from Ukraine, things became even more complicated.
At this point, it seems that the possible return of Russian clubs should not be considered imminent so the need for an expansion is not as urgent as it could have been.
Having said that, there’s an interesting twist in the possibility of an expansion. While London and Paris were considered priorities until last season, compared to Dubai, in the brief time that the issue of new clubs in the competition was on the table, London and Paris weren’t even mentioned, and only a small update on the Dubai issue was presented without any decisions taken once more.
Obviously, this issue is also related to the conflict in the region which remains totally unpredictable.