“The NBA Europe will respect the tradition and the championships-in which markets it targets”

A league that will respect the national championships, meritocracy and the tradition of European basketball will be the NBA Europeas his CEO explained NBA In Europe and the Middle East, George Aivazoglou. He even referred to the markets targeted by the new league, without referring to Greece.

In detail he talked about:

-The contacts with groups for NBA Europe: “It was an excellent opportunity to meet with all the teams and some of the owners. We met with Fenerbahce President Ali Koch. I would say that the general climate was very positive. I reiterated that we are very open to collaborating with anyone in the area who wants to become a partner in this project and contribute to how to bring this idea to life. We believe that this league can follow European standards. It will be created with respect to the traditions, the passion of the fans and the way the game is played in Europe. We are fully aware that this is clearly different from the way it is played outside Europe and in the United States. ”

-The cities targeted by NBA Europe: “I can say that we are interested in many cities such as Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, London and Manchester in England, Paris and Lyon in France, Milan and Rome in Italy, Munich, Frankfurt and Germany. We are interested in these cities. ”

-The NBA’s interest in the Turkish market: “Fenerbahce is a great club. I congratulate them who qualified for Final 4. Galatasaray is also a great club. There are other big teams such as Anadolu Efes and Besiktas. We are very interested in Turkey as a market for the new European league project. We are very interested in Constantinople as a city. ”

-The right to participate in the new league: “Even if Galatasaray wins the Turkish Championship, he cannot compete in the top European Cup. This is not the case in football. In football, the team that wins the Turkish Championship wins the right to compete in the UEFA Champions League. We want to correct this situation. ”

-The way of joining the new league: “There are three ways to integrate interested cities and groups into our league. First, clubs that want to voluntarily participate. Secondly, existing football clubs that have no basketball team but want to create one. Third, completely new clubs. We will evaluate all these options. We have just started our research on this issue. ”

-The ‘no’ to groups outside Europe: “We are clear on this issue. We want our league to be European and geographically. That’s why a Middle East club will not participate in the league ”

-The EUROPE NBA structure: “We intend to start with 16 teams and we want the vast majority of them to be permanent. We also want some of them to come from the ecosystem. These may be different each year and gain the right to participate in our league. I believe this offers a fundamental change in today’s structure of European basketball. We can consider it as a step towards a single and clearer pyramid, which will be very transparent and easily understood, but also fair, rewarding success and based on athletic value. “