By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
German outlet Frankfurter Rundschau hosted comments by Kamil Novak, Stefan Holz, Tomas Van Den Spiegel and Jordi Bertomeu in its presentation of the current situation in European basketball. Novak, FIBA Europe Executive Director, underlined: “It is important for us to protect the domestic leagues.”
“We are not planning any changes, but the better this league gets the more teams will move away from their national leagues and the more difficult it will get to prioritize their domestic leagues,” admitted Euroleague Basketball CEO, Jordi Bertomeu, in his recent interview to BIG.
“We have to find a common path,” noted Novak interpreting Bertomeu’s interview as a step towards the right direction. Commenting on Bertomeu’s approach, BBL CEO, Stefan Holz, added that EuroLeague is already an attractive product and that weekends remain off limits for the top European club competition. “The leagues are primarily concerned with making their views known,” Holz pointed out as well.
“Seeing EuroLeague’s decisions and their impact on league calendars, we felt the need to defend our rights,” said ULEB President, Tomas Van Den Spiegel, commenting for the first time on ULEB aligning with FIBA in the complaint to the European Commission on international EuroLeague stars competing in FIBA qualifiers.
“It would be nice to bring the NBA on board, but you have to see the world realistically,” confessed Novak referring to NBA players missing out on FIBA’s qualifying windows during the winter schedule.