By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Some things seemingly never change. The FIBA – EuroLeague dispute is still alive and revenues remain an issue, but as the league is entering the 25th season you can’t deny at least the resilience of the competition.
As basketball is booming worldwide, the EuroLeague remains a beautiful oddity at the center of it. The revenues are rising at a record pace, but clubs are still losing money and the league has survived so far pandemics, wars, and two CEO changes, even if one of them was not memorable at all.
Despite all the talks about sustainability, the quirky and ever-evolving EuroLeague model has proven to be sustainable enough, creating a private league that’s the second-best in the world.
And that’s not up for debate. No matter which numbers you look at, the EuroLeague is second best only to the NBA.
So what’s the plan for the next 25 years? Nobody can say with absolute certainty and at this point, there is still no clear direction.
Yes, the next two years until the summer of 2026 when the joint venture with IMG expires will be crucial, you can bet on what you would like to see, however usually when you bet on something to happen in the EuroLeague, you are bound to lose your money.
European basketball is currently bleeding money and talent to the US, and some major markets, like France, Germany, and the UK, despite respectable efforts remain severely underdeveloped.
However, all these are off-the-court concerns.
On the court, the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is bound to be bigger and better than ever and you have to thank the Greek clubs for that.
Once in danger of becoming pariahs with glorious past due to the financial crisis in the country and with well-documented financial difficulties, both Panathinaikos and Olympiacos are setting the tone for the season, pushing others to follow.
You can make a case that those two clubs are the only two in Europe that have everything needed to boost to sport to the next level.
They have a great winning tradition, amazing rosters, money to spend, huge fanbases, a mainstream interest that creates national headlines every day, big arenas, big revenues, and even bigger-than-life owners.
All other big contenders miss at least one or two things from this list, especially branches of multisport clubs in other countries which are overshadowed by their football team.
And that’s why the season is already very reminiscent of the 2008-09 which ended with the Final Four in Berlin, arguably the best yet. And on the court, that’s the goal: To surpass this landmark.
Chances are that when all is said and done, this season will go down, as the best ever yet…