By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
FIBA has not announced yet its official position after the meeting with Euroleague and the proposal which was made by the ECA.
And at this point, despite the fact that communication between the two sides is established, the main issue between them turned out to be the Eurocup. It sounds strange, but according to Eurohoops sources, FIBA accepts the current format of the Euroleague and even a possible future expansion to 24 teams, but wants to control the Eurocup and possibly merge it with the Champions League, or even disband it.
This is not a simple issue, since Eurocup can be the medium which will support Euroleague’s growth in new markets. According to the 10-year plan of the joint venture between Euroleague and IMG, after the possible expansion of Euroleague, as much as four teams could gain access to the top competition via the Eurocup.
So, in this particular matter the gap between the two sides is huge and for the moment there’s no ground for compromise, as Euroleague according to its proposals wants to have two competitions and for now a total of 40 teams under its umbrella.