IN THE GAME

Two open letters, one message: We don’t want to be a part of this.

In two of Europe’s biggest leagues, resistance has been arising over the last months regarding Jordi Bertomeu’s proposed Euroleague system for the coming 09/10 season. In the last two days parties from both Spain and Greece came forward with their plans to oppose the new system, which includes the installation of a three-licences-system, which itself contains thirteen three-year-contracts.

The system implies four A-licences for ACB clubs, powerhouses Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Unicaja Malaga and TAU Vitoria. Non-A-licenced ACB teams would have the chance to directly qualify for the Euroleague regular season only via the championship or as finalist, both being rather unlikely, even for ambitious clubs such as Pamesa Valencia and Joventut Badalona. Yesterday, Pamesa Valencia president Manuel Llorente expressed his disgust with the current system, threatening to pull his club out of the 09/10 ACB competition. Bertomeu meanwhile stated in Basque newspaper El Correo that there are currently talks underway with ACB regarding the new Euroleague system. Well, obviously a solution was not found. Yesterday, ACB issued a statement via their official homepage, saying that the league will oppose the proposed Euroleague system.

The ACB has explained its position regarding the proposed restructuring of the Euroleague, recalling that [the system] “can only be modified by agreement of the Assembly of the Euroleague,” and that [the assembly] “to date has not achieved the necessary consensus for adoption”.

Given the reports in the media about the proposed restructuring of the Euroleague basketball proposed by the operators of this competition, and its alleged application for next season, the Chairman of the ACB, Eduardo Portela, wishes to emphasize that “the system of participation in European competitions can only be modified by agreement of the Assembly of the Euroleague.”

“The model presented by the Executive Director of the Euroleague was rejected in July 2008 and to date has not achieved the necessary consensus for adoption. Any change in the participation of clubs in the European tournament, in any case must be approved by the Assembly of the Euroleague and conform well to the criteria of legality arising from Community law, says the representative of the League Spanish professionals [Eduardo Portela] who is also the current President of the Union of European Leagues (ULEB).

The ACB believes that the model proposed by the managers of Euroleague, which includes thirteen clubs with licences of indefinite duration, is “directed against the principles that underpin the European basketball and the European model of professional sport. It is an unfair competition which includes, for example, the recruitement of players. It is unacceptable that certain teams are guaranteed a privileged place to play in Europe regardless of their sporting results. To distinguish the permanent clubs with the rest of the clubs, the proposed model artificially alters the competition between these different levels, and jeopardizes the existence of serious and consolidated projects.”

In this situation, “the ACB, has agreed at the time, to defend the interests of its partners and the essence of competitive sport, to oppose such a model in the Euroleague Assembly and report immediately to authorities any attempts to implement it”, concludes Eduardo Portela.

Many thanks to Penzias of Interbasket Forums for the translation

ACB’s two main points are that 1) ACB is against the proposed system because the system does not apply the principles of European basketball – in other words, ACB is not happy with the way Spanish teams are being handled in the proposed system – , and 2) the proposed system will not withstand in law court, as it has not been implemented according to the rules – a decision supported by at least 80 percent of the full Euroleague assemby is needed – yet. Hence the decision could not be considered as valid.

Vassilis Oikonomidis, head of the governing board of ESAKE, the assembly of Greek basketball clubs, came to the same conclusion yesterday, issuing in an open letter to Jordi Bertomeu that the meeting in which the new Euroleague system had been decided was in fact of “informal” nature, hence the decision could not be valid.

Dear Jordi,

after publications in the spanish press, according to which you have the agreeing opinion of 10 leagues for the plan of the new Euroleague, I consider it essential to clarify that my presence at Turin during our informal meeting by no means constitutes an agreement on your plan, from the moment the direct participation of a 3rd greek team is not foreseen in it, as it is the case until today, and as greek basketball deserves.

Many thanks to Trifilli of Interbasket Forums for the translation

Furthermore he explained his discontent with the proposed system, mentioning the loss of a direct qualifcant for Greece, which has had three direct Euroleague starters in the last three years, but only two direct starters [in case - as should not be doubted - both Panathinaikos and Olympiacos reach the final] plus the third-placed team in the preliminaries in the new system. Prior to that, Oikonomidis had stated in an interview that he cannot accept the assignment of starting points between the different countries, mentioning France as a country that should not have been awarded three spots.

The timing of both ACB’s and Esake’s opposition is hardly coincidential. We can consider this newest development as a start of an open opposition against Bertomeu’s proposed system and we will follow with interest how strong the already powerful force around ACB and Esake is going to become. The proposed Euroleague system looks far away right now.