Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu: “We are not in a war against FIBA”

During a live chat with Spanish newspaper AS, Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu has confirmed the league intention to engage in conversations with FIBA to solve a complicated landscape that sees proliferations of continental leagues.

“We are not at war with FIBA, we simply have different models in mind”, he said. “It is true that 4 or 5 years ago they tried unsuccessfully to regain control of the Euroleague, but now we must find ways to make the situation the one we would like. In recent months, unfortunately (the death of the former FIBA Secretary General, Patrick Baumann), there has been a change in management and there is greater sensitivity. We have an opportunity to solve problems that we should have solved before and that has not been done by everyone, including the Euroleague. No one thinks that four European competitions at the same time make sense. We are available to work with them”.

Bertomeu has also talked about implementing measures and speeding up processes to reward “teams that are capable of managing themselves financially. In the next 3 years, the contributions of the owners will be reduced and, if any club exceeds the marked percentage, it will pay a kind of luxury tax to the others. Another example may be to establish a transition of salary expenses that are more adapted to the real income”.