By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The expansion of the EuroLeague for next season became official today in Tel Aviv. According to the press release of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague:
The eleven members of the ECA Shareholders Board met on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, Israel to review the progress made 18 months after the current strategic plan was defined and approved in Chantilly, France.
The meeting had an exceptional opening with the President & CEO of Euroleague Basketball, Jordi Bertomeu, officially announcing the naming of Maccabi Tel Aviv President Shimon Mizrahi as a Euroleague Basketball Legend, the highest recognition offered to the greatest contributors to the League.
The session continued with attendees reviewing progress on key areas of the business, namely the evolution of league-wide gate receipts, corporate and media partner revenues and distribution, as well as the latest and next steps to be taken with the recently created players’ and referees’ associations (ELPA and UEBO, respectively).
The clubs recognized the UEBO (Union of Euroleague Basketball Officials) as the legitimate and valid counterpart to discuss and agree on key issues that allow for further collective growth of the league.
Attending clubs also reviewed the state of several key areas of the 2017-22 strategic plan:
- Business Growth and Game Day Revenues: the two-season evolution of league and club revenues was extensively analyzed, with a special focus on game day revenue generation and potential areas of improvement.
- Organizational Structure: the current staffing structure of EuroLeague clubs in the business area was studied with needed changes to ensure a fit-for-purpose structure agreed.
- EuroLeague BOCS: progress made by the league’s Business Operations and Club Services unit was revealed. BOCS is fully operative and supporting the league and its clubs in their mission to achieve greater collective and individual business results.
- Corporate Partnerships: several new initiatives including expanded rights for local exploitation and monitoring tools were presented to the board members, as well as potential areas to grow collective revenues.
Additionally, the attending clubs also:
- Reviewed the draft 2019-20 Euroleague Basketball calendar
- Formally approved the inclusion of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. An expansion of the league from 16 to 18 clubs had already been approved in the previous ECA Shareholder Meeting, with FC Bayern Munich being granted a two-season license, whilst ASVEL’s license was conditioned to several criteria that have since been met by the club.