Euroleague Basketball’s new CEO, Chus Bueno, shared a post on LinkedIn giving an initial assessment of his tenure, while hinting at the possibility of a partnership with NBA Europe.
Dear network,
Not even 2 months as CEO of Euroleague Basketball, and I can already share that it is a fascinating adventure. It’s a crucial moment for European basketball, in a very complex situation, we all know that. But it is also a privilege for someone that loves sports and basketball, to be part of the conversation to fix it.
In our first Euroleague Basketball board, We (the ExCo) presented our plan to the clubs on how we can grow the league and the teams asset value (we’re moving to franchises to do that), how we can grow the business in areas where we identified as an opportunity (with market expansion, new assets, and the creation of all our digital-DTC platform to interact better with our fans), and how to manage better the basketball ecosystem. The BOD (the board of directors) supported our ideas and gave us the “green light” to do it. Euroleague Basketball has a great 3 year plan to grow its business.
Regarding the ecosystem, you have probably seen during last weeks, that the National Basketball Association (NBA), is raising the capital to come to Europe, supported by FIBA, and how we all said we are all open to explore a partnership together.
Too soon to see if it’s possible and how to do that, we all know it is not easy, and we (basketball stakeholders) have not been able to do it so far.
But I believe we can all agree that fragmentation dilutes value, and creates friction (not only among institutions, also within the media landscape, the market penetration, sponsorship, or even the friction within our fanbase supporting one league or concept vs another etc) and this is why I said that if the National Basketball Association (NBA) raises the capital and decides to come and invest time and resources in Europe, we (Euroleague and its clubs) should be open to discuss how we can grow the game and business together so we all benefit.
NBA commisioner Adam Silver, said that he thinks would be better to find an agreement with the Euroleague, during the last press conference a couple of weeks ago.
I have been at the NBA almost 13 years, and I know Adam Silver, Mark Tatum and George Aivazoglou well. High personal and professional appreciation for my former colleagues, and they know it. I know what the NBA brings to the table regarding the game, the product, marketing, comercial, operations, brand, etc. We (the Euroleague side) have the top European basketball teams, the biggest basketball cities, and the highest European clubs fan base with decades of tradition. If they finally come, we should explore how we maximize this opportunity.
We will all defend the best interest for our clubs, owners, capital etc… but there is trust among us to have honest conversations, sometimes critical and we will disagree on things!!But we need to figure out together the best solution for all. European Basketball is too important and deserves a great future.
Looking forward to do that.
Chus
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