By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Besiktas may end up playing in the BSL finals, it has created a great foundation for the future under coach Ufuk Sarica and the natural course of things would be for them to eventually be part of the EuroLeague.
And on the day of their win over Anadolu Efes in BSL’s semifinals Game 1, Orman attacked the league in the most harsh way imaginable, naming it “an organization of robbery”. His arguments are wrong. Yes, it’s a private league, but the 11 clubs which have signed a ten year contract are major shareholders. Yes, there are many Turkish sponsors, but basketball is booming in Turkey and big companies want to invest in the best competition. And yes, many teams in the EuroLeague are losing money, but this is the first season in which the revenues shared to the clubs are a record 30 million euros. It’s probably not what it should be businesswise, still for the first time ever a basketball league in Europe gave back to the teams so much money.
Orman should know that, since his team played in the EuroLeague back in the 2012-13 season and reached the Top16. After all, he even said in the recent past that one of the goals of his team was to win the EuroLeague, when no Turkish team had won the trophy.
What changed since then and what provoked his recent statements, according to which Besiktas is not interested anymore in competing in the EuroLeague? While Orman denied it, it’s more than obvious that Fenerbahce‘s recent triumph, which became the first ever Turkish team to win the EuroLeague, played at least a part on his reaction, specially since it’s also stole some of the thunder of Besiktas winning the Turkish football – soccer for the US readers – championship title.
If Orman is protesting, because even if Besiktas wins the BSL championship title, there’s no way for them to be included in next season’s EuroLeague under the current format, he has a valid point and this is something that EuroLeague should address in its future expansion. However, by using the wrong arguments, which for many years were used by FIBA against EuroLeague, Orman is just providing the basketball version of a well known Aesop fable. The fox and the grapes…