By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Zenit St Petersburg hosted its first Turkish Airlines EuroLeague game this century and Euroleague Basketball President and CEO Jordi Bertomeu was invited for the occasion.
He attended the press conference together with Zenit CEO Alexander Tserkovny and noted that EuroLeague never had any talks with Gazprom, which is the club’s main sponsor: “We never had any conversation with Gazprom, never. In terms of cooperation, commercial cooperation, collaboration, we never had a conversation. I don’t know in the future, but so far we never had this conversation. As a consequence of this, the fact that Zenit St Petersburg was invited to join the EuroLeague is just because we believed it was a right club for us and was a club we can help to grow. That’s all.”
Bertomeu also explained why he believes the wild card system is fair and what criteria and goals EuroLeague values: “I believe it is fair. Because it is not only about winning. It is about having clubs with good structure, with good arenas, capable of generating economic resources, and with the ability to have 10,000 or 12,000 spectators in arena. What we missed in Russia in the last years — and I have to say that in the last three or four years situation is improving — but for many years we did not see in Russia this level of development. These are the homeworks, if I can say it this way, that the Russian clubs have to do. We have been working very close with the VTB League, to help each other, to cooperate, to help the clubs to grow their structure, their business. But still there is a long way to go. One of the reasons we have chosen St. Petersburg, among others, is because we knew that one of the strongest teams in terms of attendance, of fan attraction, is Zenit. For us this is fundamental. Probably much more than if CSKA wins, or Fenerbahce loses, or Real wins, or Panathinaikos loses. This is not as important as to have professional teams.”
He also shared a bit of the future plans regarding licenses: “We do not have plans to deliver more licenses in the coming years. We don’t have this plan. We have a transition situation with ASVEL and Bayern. And at the end of these two years that we gave them wild cards, we will see if they will get one license. We have to wait a couple of years. But clearly Zenit has an open door to the EuroLeague through the VTB League, because being the champion or the runner-up of the VTB League, of course there is a spot guaranteed for that Russian team in the EuroLeague, as has always been the case.”
Photo Credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague