By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The NBA announced the “next step” of their European plans; however, with the details of the plan still a work in progress, the EuroLeague and their partner IMG think that there’s much to be discussed and nothing specific to talk about yet.
Talking to Sportpro IMG president Adam Kelly explained why the EuroLeague and his company are having more questions right now than worries about what the NBA will do in Europe.
“There will always be noise in and around sport, particularly at the moment when there’s so much capital floating around, and people wanting to deploy that capital into sports assets,” says Kelly.
“So will the noise go away? Will the NBA launch? Will they do that on their own? Will they do that with us? Will they do that with EuroLeague? I think there are still so many open questions. What I’m focused on is how do we deal with what’s present, what’s happening, what’s available today? How do we maximise and build your assets for the short, medium, and long term? I’ve got enough to worry about without making up stories of things that might not happen”.
EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejūnas, while he respects the NBA, believes that coming over to Europe will not be a walk in the park.
“I understand the NBA’s approach, and I appreciate how big they are – it’s the number one basketball league in the world,” says the Lithuanian. “But I don’t like the mentality that, ‘oh, we’ll come and we’ll teach everybody how it’s done. ’ Obviously, everybody wants to listen to the NBA or wants to see what they can offer. But to have five leagues [would mean] we’re forgetting the fans. You turn on the TV and you don’t know what team is playing what competition.”
For the EuroLeague, the most pressing issue right now seems to be the sale of a minority stake to private equity group BC Partners.
“We are in talks,” confirms Motiejūnas. “We opened that door – it’s interesting to see what’s behind that. There are good examples and there are bad examples – obviously we want to have good examples. We just want to do the right thing because we saw some sportsmen who got the money but did not get the upside that they wanted. We want to learn from others’ mistakes. If you ask me, I think it’s the future. You see how much money is going into the leagues, then into the clubs, how new sports are being created. It’s a trend, and we understand it’s a trend. So how do we use this trend in a good way? This is the challenge. We can grow as a league without investment, but if we have the right investment and the right approach, we can – maybe not the best example – use some steroids and grow faster with that cash. That would be the goal.”