French Basketball Federation president says “EuroLeague is only looking for ‘pumping’ money”

French Basketball Federation president Jean-Pierre Siutat sole to Referee Time about EuroLeague and the French teams in EuroCup.

This is what he said (via BeBasket).

“The Euroleague is a very nice competition, but these people respect nothing. Example, the referees: we invested, the FIBA, the French Federation, to have high level referees, and at one point, these referees, they are offered to referee the Euroleague. But what is the compensation that the Euroleague does to those who trained them? Nothing, that does not exist. Same thing for coaches, same thing for players, there is no return on investment, as it exists for the NBA with the buyout. If they don’t put buyout in place, these are people who just take” Siutat said.

Talking about the French teams in EuroCup (Bourg, Metropolitans 92 and Monaco), Siutat said that federation is not going to protect them anymore.

“We have always allowed French clubs to play in Euroleague and we protect them in terms of the calendar. We will not do so for the Eurocup. The teams that ended in 8th or 10th position and chose Eurocup, good for them but they will not be protected. It is the choice of the national league (the LNB) which will organize its calendar, but if at some point there are two games, the clubs will have to choose. We can no longer protect them. Because quite simply the private structure (ECA) is only trying to pump money, has no return on investment and that we cannot admit that”.