By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos remains one the only team which is offered a ten year contract by the new Euroleague venture and has not yet signed it.
The club’s vice-president Takis Baltakos talked for the matter on the Greek OTE TV channel and explained the position of the Greens. As he said: “We were asked to sign a 10 year deal, which is a great commitment for the club, and there’s also a 10 million euros penalty in case someone changes his mind and wants to back down from the contract. So we couldn’t take this decision just in one day. I am speaking of behalf of Panathinaikos, so I can’t speak about the other ten teams which have already signed the deal”.
However Panathinaikos will decide soon, according to Baltakos: “By the end of November, or at the start of December we will take our final decision”. What can be the alternative? Baltakos believes that FIBA may after all organise its own version of Euroleague: “It would be bad for basketball, like it happened during the 2000-01 season, but it’s possible to see FIBA making its own rival league”.
Baltakos admits that the future of European basketball will be a closed league and Panathinaikos wants to be a part of this: “The future will be a closed league, like the NBA. This is obvious and this is where things are heading. I don’t know if Euroleague, or FIBA will finally get it done, but the end of it will be closed league and that will be a disaster for the domestic leagues”.