BCL, Comninos: “Our current plan is to host the Final Four on neutral ground”

The CEO of the Basketball Champions League, Patrick Comninos, visited Istanbul last week to attend the Galatasaray debut match of the season. He talked to the Turkish media, and here are some of his main quotes:

On the BCL work with clubs

"We give clubs an environment that allows them to promote their teams, and we give them a level of certainty when it comes to controlling their own destiny – meaning that the clubs know that if they perform well in their national league, they have a guaranteed place in the BCL. So they don’t depend on external factors. Once they participate, we take a lot of pride in the collaboration we’ve had with clubs in promoting them, we are the #1 club competition on social media, and at the end we say that this is a competition organized by the clubs and for the clubs. Their interests come always first. The financial prize comes on top of that – of course we know how important it is in supporting the clubs, but for us it’s more about the experience we give them and the opportunity to perform at a very high level. We are pleased to see every year more and more clubs that are joining and making a strong decision to support the BCL."

On the plan to host the Final Four on neutral ground.

"After 5 seasons, we think that we are ready for this change. When we started in 2016, we knew that it would be difficult to play the Final Four on neutral ground and fill the hall. Therefore, we thought that if one of the teams that qualified for the Final Four was playing at home, there would have been more fans in attendance. Especially after what we saw in Antwerp in 2019 and then in Nizhny Novgorod in 2020, we think that we are now ready for this: it showed us that there is an audience keen on watching basketball. Our current plan is to host the event in a venue that is not affiliated with any of the 32 clubs participating in the BCL.

We hope to be able to announce the host of the Final Four soon, but we want to take the right time to make sure we make the proper decision."

On handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think that over the last year, the BCL and FIBA more in general has demonstrated its role as a governing body and as protector of the game of basketball. Last string, when COVID became a reality, FIBA worked very closely with the NFs and the leagues to find the best solutions – we realized it was a monumental task, but we as BCL were the first competition to go back on the court by giving clubs the opportunity to crown a 2020 champion as we did with the Final Eight format in Athens last year.

Last season, we reduced the number of matches and gave all our clubs a period of time to prepare before a match and plan their travels. As organizers, we also took time to reschedule the postponed matches. We did not cancel any of the matches and ensured that the results were always decided on the court. This season, we continue the same format with minor changes. We are still dealing with the coronavirus epidemic and we believe this format will give us a bit more flexibility.”