Galatsopoulos: “This year’s championship is more competitive – We will be concerned about the issue of the salary cap”

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The president of ESAKE, Vangelis Galatsopoulos“hosted” in EOK WebRadio and talked about the start of the Stoiximan GBL, the competitiveness that awaits, but also the response of the people at the stadiums.

At the same time, he was asked about his subject salary capemphasizing that it was discussed in the summer following her proposal AEK Betssonand it’s an issue that takes time, but will certainly concern the league for the foreseeable future.

What he said in detail:

For the premiere of the Greek Basketball League: “I think he started really strong. We almost had 6/6 away wins. The important thing is that we started even before the Super Cup. All teams have stepped up, all teams are investing, everyone to the extent they can. For the first time this year, we have 9 teams in the European competitions and all of these are positive messages, signs for the best championship to come after last year, which was the most competitive of the last five years.”

For this year’s championship: “I think it will be more competitive. We always try to find a system that has various axes from the issue of time duration, the fatigue of the players, because they have many obligations. So we came up with a system that all the teams agreed to. We estimate that he will keep the competitiveness until the end both in the matter of the speed of the champion and in the matter of the tickets of Europe. Last year in the last match tickets were decided for which teams will go to the BCL groups, which to the qualifying round. There will be competition again this year in terms of who will enter the 8th place, who will claim the European tickets and which team will avoid relegation. That’s why there are also the play-outs, so that there is interest until the last matchday”.

For the league in general: “Because the league is 12 teams, definitely Olympiacos-Panathinaikos, and because of the Euroleague, they have made huge investments first in players and Panathinaikos is also investing in the field. And the rest of the teams invest in their facilities and teams too. In the first matchday, we saw a very strong AEK, a PAOK that achieved an important victory, Panionios. They are historic teams. A huge success, which is also due to the excellent cooperation of the teams, is that we “closed” the three-year agreement with ERT, so we guarantee the teams’ income for the next three years. We have Stoiximan as a sponsor, we announced Cosmote. Important companies in Greece invest in basketball and promote themselves through the GBL championship”.

For the response of the crowd in the stadiums: “We had this result last year when we had a 30% increase in tickets. The issue of full stadiums is also an issue of culture, an issue of education, an issue of education, so here the league and the Federation and the teams are taking actions to attract even more people, even more families. Now, with the new measures, you can see that we have a very good image, especially in basketball. We had no issues with violence. I think that after these measures with the identification of the ticket and the tightening of the penalties, we will have a much better picture and I estimate that at the end of the year we will have a better entry of fans and families into the stadiums, because this will be caused by the spectacle of groups with the investments they have made”.

To think about the salary cap: “The salary cap was discussed in the summer as a first proposal made by AEK. It is a very serious matter, which does not begin and end in a day. What we said and discussed in the Board of Directors. is to discuss the matter in detail, to investigate it with all markets, leagues and so on. From here on, let’s get a company to do a study, so we can see when it can be implemented in Greece, under what conditions, in what ways. It’s an issue that will concern the league from here on out.”

On whether basketball is “picking up” after the difficult times due to covid: “I think basketball has gone through difficult times, whether with the crisis or the pandemic, but we have stayed united and strong. I think an important decision after 30 years was central management. I also consider the cooperation with ERT to be important. I would also like to thank the management of ERT for standing by basketball. It gives security to the teams, to the league and every year it tries to improve the image in the stadiums and the teams with the facilities. I think he really went through a lot of difficulties, but he persevered through this difficult time and we all moved forward together and we see their results. It is also about Europe, last year we saw Panathinaikos who won the Euroleague, Olympiacos who were in the Final-4, Peristeri who were in the Final-4 of the BCL. All these are examples of how much the teams have strengthened, how much the level is rising.”

For the goal of ESAKE: “The goal regarding ESAKE is a three-year plan. The league is trying to better organize the league, have rules and “close” deals with as much revenue as possible, which will be shared among the teams to improve the rosters, the league, the players and so on. We are getting close to our goal of “locking in” the sponsorships for three years, so we have a clear environment of inflow of money at intervals and a three-year plan, for sure. The second goal is to organize the league with better steps, so that we get closer to the European level and the league enters digitalization, organizes itself in various issues related to the operation of the league, the regulations. And let all this come at a more timely time.”

Source: Sport Fm

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