By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
What EuroLeague asks is all the national team games to be held on July, August to be a full month of rest for the players and September to be devoted to training camps. That means that the Eurobasket tournaments and the World Cup tournaments will be also played on July. The only exception is going to be the Olympics because their scheduling is not decided by FIBA.
Under this proposal, all league games – domestic or continental – should be played from October until mid-June at the latest.
According to the press release: “The proposal takes into account the reality of basketball globally, and aims to find a broad understanding of a harmonized calendar for the whole basketball family, making all players available to be present at all official national team events while allowing more of those events to be held on home soil. The participation of the best players is crucial for fans, media and rights holders to fully embrace the project, as well as for national teams and national federations to maintain their traditional status as premium basketball competitions and to be able to have the fairest competition on the court amongst all participants.
The calendar proposal principles have previously been presented to the clubs and have been also shared with all Turkish Airlines EuroLeague participating players through those present at the latest EuroLeague Team Captains Meeting, as well as with all coaches and referees of the competition. Euroleague Basketball is convinced that the opinion of key stakeholders is of utmost importance and needs to be taken into consideration for any definitive calendar that is discussed. The proposal reflects the long-standing position of Euroleague Basketball and its clubs that national teams are one of the cornerstones for the promotion and growth of basketball.
Euroleague Basketball’s calendar proposal emphasizes the importance of having the best players participating with their national teams in the FIBA Qualifiers, FIBA EuroBasket, FIBA Basketball World Cup and Summer Olympic Games whilst respecting the traditional clubs competitions calendar, and opens the door for Euroleague Basketball’s clubs competition calendar to be adjusted in its start dates, end dates and preparation periods to better accommodate national teams’ games and to reach a consensus between all different bodies.
ECA had already sent a similar counter-proposal to FIBA on 23rd April 2012 with the aim of reaching a common agreement; unfortunately, no response has been received to date.
The proposal is based on the following principles:
1. National Federations need their National Team to have the best players available for all official games
2. National Federations need their National Team to play official qualification games on home soil
3. National Team calendar should occupy four weeks per season, in addition to a two-week preparation period
4. Club calendar should occupy thirty eight weeks per season
5. Professional basketball players need at least four weeks of complete rest from official activity per season
Euroleague Basketball and its clubs are open and willing to have a profound debate amongst all basketball stakeholders with the objective of reaching a long-term agreement that is beneficial to all parties and to the growth of the sport of basketball at all levels”.
