Motiegiounas: “Open for Final 4 in Greece”

A “window” for a Final 4 to be held in Greece in the near future was left by the CEO of the Euroleague, Paulius Motiegiounas. At the same time, he appeared apologetic for what happened on Friday and the inefficient security measures. He also mentioned the issue of the possible entry of Dubai and emphasized that investors are being sought. He spoke in detail about:

– the possibility of a Final 4 in Greece: “We are very happy about what is happening with the stadiums of Panathinaikos AKTOR and Olympiakos, who are taking possession of them and investing in them. It helps in their development. We will be open to discussing something with the teams and the Government to get the Final 4 back there at some point in the future.”

– the security measures that did not work in the semi-finals: “It’s not the start we wanted. We want to give some explanations for what happened. Before the doors opened, you saw that some people tried to enter the stadium without a ticket. Some have succeeded. The Police intervened and checked everything. There was a delay in the start of the matches, but what we cared about most of all is the safety of the spectators. We hope that we will avoid similar phenomena in the future and we will not have to reposition ourselves. We know what happened, it won’t happen tomorrow.”

– for the presence of dogs around the stalls: “It was a reaction for everyone’s safety. Sometimes there can be an overreaction, but I think that if everything was in a superlative degree, nothing would happen. I assure you that nothing will happen tomorrow.”

-the plan for the rise of the Euroleague product: “I wish I could break down the full plan. We know that the Euroleague is strong and has the potential to expand. We are talking about strategic partners, who will help us evolve. We want Berlin, Paris, London. They are essential purchases. We also want the Middle East, because it is a key market we are interested in. And this is not only about holding the Final 4 there, but also about more investments. We want to increase our revenue, at all levels. I don’t want to go into details because this is something that is ongoing.”

-the progress in cooperation with FIBA: “We signed an agreement, maybe it was the first one we signed. It was about the February windows. Teams had to have one more devil’s week before the players could go to their nationals. We may not have had such a close relationship in the last decade, but now we are trying to find a balance and a way to improve the product. This interests us both. It’s an ongoing process, we’re optimistic about it all.”

-the revenue of the teams: “We will not leave the teams alone. The league only gets better when the teams get better. Unity is important, but evolution is about administrations. Not only ours, but also the clubs’. Obviously we want to increase revenue. We read the news, we know there are many scenarios. We like how things are going now. A green or a red sea”.

-the format of the event: “The Final 4 is the tip of the iceberg. We love the way everything is done. We also like the playoffs process. Fenerbahce and Olympiacos won Game 5 by one and five points, respectively.”

-the positions and contracts in the Euroleague: “You all know where I worked in previous years (s.p.: Zalgiris). It is understandable that the uncertainty does not help some groups regarding the issue of sponsors. Next year unfortunately we will go back to one-year contracts, but in the future we want to give longer wild cards to help the teams more. I don’t think it’s good for young players who get so much money and contracts like that because it’s risky. You have to be very ready and mentally tough to handle it.”

-the entrance of Dubai: “We read that next year he will be in the ABA League. We are in constant contact with them, but everything is on hold now. We are looking for investors, we are looking at what can be done with the contracts. Everything. We continue to be in contact with them, to see what can come up. There is no certainty about next season, but we certainly want to keep in touch with them for the future.”

– the possibility of an All Star Game in the Euroleague: “The All Star Game, the Cup, a preseason tournament, maybe a match outside of Europe. We look into everything. I’m not a fan of the All Star Game, but if it helps the product, we’ll see.”

-the correlation of the Euroleague with the national championships: “Our goal is not to reduce the number of games, but to increase it. Do you know why; Because in the EuroLeague matches the interest is huge and the stadiums fill up easily. In national championships this does not happen. We want to play more.”

– the composition of the Euroleague in 2024/25: “We still don’t know exactly the teams for next season. We’ll know in July. We are talking to all the clubs. It’s unfortunate that we have to make some decisions to see who can play, especially since Paris is a market we wanted to have close to us.”