By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
BELGRADE, Serbia – In what is becoming an annual and usual tradition, the Basketball Champions League CEO Patrick Comninos sat down in a round table press conference with accredited media during the 2024 Final Four in Belgrade, touching on several topics regarding the competition.
After the lack of participation in the stands of Belgrade Arena, he explained the factors behind the decision to organize the event in the Serbian capital, far away from the participants from Greece (Peristeri), and most importantly from Spain (Unicaja Malaga, Lenovo Tenerife, UCAM Murcia).
He mentioned several reasons for the matter. “Trying to make this pinnacle event in a neutral venue has been our primary focus. When we started developing the options, Belgrade wasn’t our initial choice. Our desire was to be innovative and forward-thinking, introducing a BCL Final Four on an LED Glass Floor. That was the target. It became almost an obsession, the priority”, he first commented.
Continuing on the newly innovative LED Glass Floor, he praised the decision. “The challenges relate to the organizers and what it takes to install this floor, the addition of power generators, and air conditioning required. For players and coaches, it was a very curious experiment, you could see the reactions by touching it and moving it around. Right now, I think this is something that will be more widely used in the future”, Patrick Comninos said.
Later on, he also mentioned factors regarding tension following the start of the war conflict in the Middle East. “We had a lot of discussions and different selections. We have to take into consideration geo-political challenges, with Israeli and Turkey teams in the competition. We selected Belgrade as the neutral venue that could have accommodated all the factors taken into consideration”, he said.
“The arena was not full yesterday, this is true. But when we make this decision there are many different factors. This year our priority was a venue that could accommodate the LED Glass Floor. We started on the basic principles of going to a totally neutral venue. Our choices were quite specific. We needed to make a compromise, not be certain to have the number of fans. We needed to make a decision and prioritize something else, a view to the future. We don’t do what’s easy, we do what’s right, and we took the right decision”, he added.
Addressing the tough challenge of bringing teams all the way to Belgrade, he was concerned about the issue. “This is not an easy journey for three of our teams, and this is an environment used and spoiled by high-level basketball teams. It’s not automatic that the local fans would have come, we hope more fans will come on Sunday and celebrate this event. It remains a great event with two of the best teams in Europe in this unique environment”, he said, crossing his fingers.
Before moving on to other topics, Patrick Comninos took time to thank the Serbian government and the city of Belgrade, being thankful for the opportunity of finally making the dream of playing on an LED Glass Floor a reality. “We’re grateful to have been able to forge this collaboration with the city and the Serbian Federation in Belgrade Arena, one of the best arenas in Europe for what we wanted to do. We took the right decision in bringing our competition here in Belgrade”, he said.
Following conversations being reported in the past few months between ECA and FIBA regarding the creation of a new second-tier European competition, merging the EuroCup and the Basketball Champions League, he confirmed talks. “It is true, we’re sitting now at the table with various stakeholders. There’s one consensus among the stakeholders that something needs to change to allow the sport to generate the interest and commercial value that it deserves”, Patrick Comninos said.
“This is the biggest challenge. The interest in European basketball is growing, but the market isn’t responding. We need a market more simpler to understand, more clearer to promote. One of the topics is the possibility of uniting, to merging the second-tier competition into a more competitive one. This is part of a wide range of conversations. What’s required in basketball is organic growth. There has to be an ecosystem that allows for this growth. I think maturity has allowed us to understand this”, he added.
The Greek manager also touched on the growth of the Basketball Champions League itself in its eighth season. “For us, it’s a process, every year we try to improve, and we try to offer our clubs better conditions in which to compete. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’re certainly still taking our steps in this process. Every year we try to continue improving and gain credibility in the marketplace. I believe this is now established for the Basketball Champions League. We want to continue to grow and attract some of the best teams in Europe. We hope that the future of Basketball in Europe will develop in such a manner”, he said.
Unicaja’s case and status of domestic leagues
Commenting on the finalist Unicaja Malaga’s three-year contract expiring in 2024, Patrick Comninos left it clear. “The ranking of Malaga at the top of the ACB should not make worrying thoughts. That goes to their credit, to the team they’ve built, to the consistency. Our common journey remains a solid one, we expect Malaga to continue with us next season and to have similar competitive results”, he commented on the Andalucian club.
Spain wasn’t the only domestic competition the Basketball Champions League CEO commented about, as he also touched on the Italian landscape’s lack of success. “One of the things we do take into consideration is the ranking. Italy has dropped in that ranking, once again unfortunately for the Italian league there hasn’t been a team in the Top 16. There were four teams at the starting blocks, two of them in the qualification rounds [Dinamo Sassari, Derthona Basket, Pallacanestro Varese, Brindisi]. We are waiting for the conclusion of the season in order to define next year’s composition. It is true that the last years have not been helpful for Italian teams”, he said.
One of them, however, looks solid and promising. “For us [Derthona has] a great project, the new Cittadella looks impressive. I will try to make my own way into Tortona in the next few weeks, we’ve had conversations with the club. The project is a very ambitious and interesting one, it is in the city center. Now it’s an amazing five-thousand-people arena in the city center which we expect to be a game changer”, the Basketball Champions League CEO commented.
The status of this year’s Final Four, moreover, is proof of competitiveness coming from Spain and Greece as well. “We had super exciting Semi-Finals, and we’re very happy that up to this stage, it has been a very competitive Final Four, culminating a season that has been the most competitive in our history. The feedback we’re having is all about how this is a very competitive season with some of the European top teams playing here. We have a Greek team that is currently 3rd in Greece, and three Top-5 teams in the ACB. We’re extremely happy that this continues here and hope to continue on this note”, he said.
Generally speaking, he praised domestic league competitions. “We’re always very transparent in the priority we give to domestic leagues, this is how basketball develops and grows. We need strong domestic leagues. That is always our process and whenever we speak to any club, this is what we communicate to them. We believe for the teams who participate in the Basketball Champions League that there is a path”, he mentioned. “Access to the top floor is still not available to some of the best teams in Europe. At least we’re sitting at a table and addressing this question”, he also addressed.
Finally, Patrick Comninos touched on the competitive format for 2024-25, the ninth BCL season. “We’re not changing the competition format in the next season. We have teams that would like to have a different format that guarantees them more games, and we have teams, like the ones who come from the ACB, that are perfectly okay with this format. We’re trying to find ways to support every interested party”, he said.
Watch Patrick Comninos’ Round Table:
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League