By Aris Barkas / barkas@eurohoops.net
Patrick Comninos, CEO of the Basketball Champions League mentions the sense of accomplishment of bringing the Final Four to Athens: “It’s gratifying but it’s a marathon. There’s a sense of accomplishment. There’s also a long way to go. There’s a thirst for basketball in Greece. We are growing, the current landscape is not ideal. We have to acknowledge that basketball is played around Europe and we need to acknowledge that.”
“We have to open the discussion on an ideal European landscape. We have four competitions, this is not ideal but the focus today should be the final four”, Comninos adds.
AEK’s owner, Makis Aggelopoulos mentions that the overall cost of the competition is estimated at around one million euros, significant amount of which AEK will take care of.
“I think that our future is in the Basketball Champions League. If there’s a merger of the leagues at some point, we will evaluate the situation”, Aggelopoulos tells the press.
The AEK owner noted the importance of AEK’s presence in the Final Four: “Three to four years ago, AEK was nowhere to be found in European basketball, so we have to remind people about the team’s achievements, so we make important investments for the future.”