How do you see Basketball Champions League in the short, middle and long term?
Short term is where we are at now. These first 4 years were part of our short-term planning, which was all about establishing BCL, informing the public that this competition exist, collaborating and sharing our values with clubs: I think that our short-term plan has been well executed, in the sense that we now have the level of credibility that we wished for, I think there is no question in people’s minds that BCL is here to stay.
Now you are talking to us of short-middle-long term planning, but when I had similar discussions four years ago the question was whether BCL would still be alive in 3-4 years, because in the past there has been a lot of changes in the format and in the landscape of European clubs competition. The first and clear message that goes out after our short-term plan which was to establish BCL is that this is a competition that is here to stay, and nobody doubts this anymore.
I think from now on our mid-term planning is about confirming the credibility that has been earned by BCL, making certain that the clubs they have taken the initiative to join BCL family are enjoying their experience and seeing value in the participation. I’ll give you one example: we’ve always had a lot of applications from Italy, but from arguably the most important league in Europe -Spain- we’ve had just one Spanish club interested and applying in season 1 of the competition, that was Iberostar Tenerife.
This year, in lieu of season 5, we’ve had admission forms and interest from eight different Spanish clubs. And that to us is a very important message, because these are clubs that have been used to play at the highest level, and who now have identified BCL as a competition that meets those high demands they have had. The fact that we now have in the competition the team that were 3rd, 4th and 5th before the ACB had to stop the season [those teams are, respectively, Zaragoza, Bilbao and Tenerife] represent an important benchmark for us. The mid-term is all about solidify this credibility, reinforcing the benefits that have becoming evident following the partnership of BCL with the American investors.
The long-term vision is all about the role BCL can play in the greater FIBA strategy about growing clubs competition around the world. We are very young, but the oldest of the recent clubs competitions FIBA has re-launched. Last year we launched BCL Americas, our little cousin in Latin America, and we signed the partnership with the NBA for BAL, the Basketball Africa League, and we launched the FIBA Intercontinental Cup as a mini-tournament for teams from different continental championships could participate.
All that is a very clear and well defined long term vision that FIBA has about the growth of club competitions around the world, and we want to seek the role, the leadership and the guiding force that Basketball Champions League can be in this global strategy.
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