Marshall Glickman, Euroleague Basketball CEO, interview: ‘Embrace what makes us different’

During a recent trip to Istanbul, Turkey, Euroleague Basketball CEO Marshall Glickman sat down with SSport journalist Deniz Aksoy to talk about topics such as Final Four cities, the organization’s current conversations with FIBA, and the central importance of the players to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and 7DAYS EuroCup.

Glickman, who took over the CEO role at the beginning of the current season after two decades as a consultant to Euroleague Basketball, has spent a lot of time lately traveling to meet stakeholders around the continent.

“I spent a lot of time on this side of the Atlantic and I have learned to appreciate the multiculturalism,” he told Ms. Aksoy. “So what I try to embrace is what makes us different, which is every game matters, which is the cultural diversity that we have.”

Another thing that Glickman has come to recognize is the intracacies of the European game and how that makes the shot-making in the EuroLeague as exciting as anywhere.

“It’s a beautiful thing to watch when players are able to execute offense and get an easy shot by being smart about their movement and how they do their cuts,” he said.

As CEO, Glickman made it clear that one of his main goals is to improve the Euroleague Basketball economy to benefit teams, players and other stakeholders while investing in the product for the good of the fans.

“The reason I’m trying to grow the economy of the league is so we have more resources to work with so we can improve,” he said. “It’s about improving conditions for people and making this a more fulfilling, experience for everybody.”

Essential to that effort are the players, he said, who besides being the protagonists of the game are also partners in the business.

“The players are our core,” he emphasized. “The players are, everything to me. I care that they are partners and I want the players to understand this is a partnership.”