full european league?

[pohani komarac]

Just like Josko said, I understand Israeli friends as Maccabi is practicly Israeli basketball

Just looking what Cibona A lices did, gives me idea what what will happen in most of countries

Croatia might be bas comparison, as our clubs don't have money besides new Cedevita, but let's look at Spain. If eventually Euroleague close all "dors" for rest of competition, there will be no point for other clubs beside those EL teams to invest in basketball so that will eventualy lead that Spain will lose quantity, and when you lose quantitiy you start to lose quality

2nd, I don't know how this could make basketball more popular? Why would some fan of Bilbao care how Barcelona or Real and idolise their team?

I understand sometimes you need to change things to impruve, but not evrything is bad

Croatia might be bad sample, but here is posible scenario: Intresting note from comentator in some video I found few days ago, where young Vrankovic and 16 year old Komazec are facing Sabonis and co... Comentator says: "Zadar is probably only team that has to beg his fans not to come on games"

Zadar today has problems to colect 1000 fans sometimes. It might be bad sample, but Cibona A licsese played big part in it

[Basketball fan]

I think that at Euroleague should be organised like Adriaticc . When Euroleague is finished teams play playoffs in their national leagues and if someone else is better they take their spot in EL next season . It gives hope for other teams like Zvezda , Split etc. to play in EL if they are good enough .

[Joško Poljak Fan]

I don't think Croatia is a bad example, actualy it's one of those big if's within this story... if Split would get the euroleague they deserved with Radja, Zdovc, Ukić... Sesar? ... adding two decent reinforcements, they'd quite likely do better than Cibona did. Split fans would deservingly get to taste basketball on the top european level once again, god knows how many kids would start playing it accordingly. Cibona would also be able to recuperate & reorganise this way, instead of hunting the results all the time, although it was obvious they're in deep troubles for almost a decade or so.
Dalmatians will sooner switch even to ice-hockey than support a team from Zagreb in an NBA-type euroleague and I believe that's far from the sole example of local rivalries within europe that make a closed type league impossible for top sports.

I know i keep repeating myself, but Turkey's case was damn obvious here as Ulker and Efes shouldn't be protected if there are other teams willing to compete as well... god knows what would've happen with Aris, Paok, AEK if given a chance on some occasions... same goes for many Italian and Spanish clubs that got neglected due to some shorthanded marketing strategy by Uleb. I personaly don't care if 95% of fans never heard of Manresa... if they'll be better than Real or Barca or Unicaja or Tau, let them play...

[Victorious]

We've had this discusion before. A closed EL can work, but it should be segmented in zones. Thatway a lot of teams can be part of it.

Domestic leagues are in decline, but Jasko Poljak Fan is right, it's important to keep them alive. Perhaps it is better to find a middle way. Like allow fewer teams per domestic league and merge domestic leagues together in zones. Best teams of the zones can play in the EL.

[Billy Bounce]

I hope those who wish a closed European league fully understand what they wish for : that some EL officials will hand pick clubs they wish to optimize profits/attendance/TV ratings/whatever.

We've seen enough of it in when EL year-after-year granted B licenses & wildcards to under-performing French & Italian clubs. Do you really think it will save EL ? What if next season EL will decide that Pao/Oly isn't good enough from a view of a potential profits , or flights to Kazan or Tel Aviv are too long and expensive ... Do you really wish it ?

Closed EL will also render ALL national leagues to the status of mickey-mouse cup..

EL has a working UEFA model before its eyes . With some subtle modifications it could be adjusted to basketball & we'll finally get transparent & equal for everyone rules.

Rich clubs will get their safety belt ( for unexpected losing of national championships ) in ranking points averaged over 3-5 years
Average budget clubs will benefit from continuation of their Euro season in Eurocup, in the case they won't make it EL Top16
Small budget clubs that played well in their national league will get their chances of qualifying to EL through EL qualifications.


Hell, with EL UEFA-like coefs, we will be able to fulfill the sacred dream of every IBN member: to classify national leagues strength in some objective manner ..