Open letter by Euroleague Basketball CEO Jordi Bertomeu
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 To debate has always been considered something positive in itself, a stimulating activity to be encouraged. For this reason, it seems strange that any time a debate has been brought up in the world of basketball, there seems to be a perpetual need to present it as or transform it into a war, even more so if the opportunity to add a dose of personal conflict exists. A debate is what Euroleague Basketball initiated one year ago, a dialogue with 18 countries, and the objective was to analyse and promote improvements in basketball.
The proposal of Euroleague Basketball begins with the analysis of the situation of stagnation of a lot of the European national leagues. Taking into account this non-promising situation, we have to add the strong competition with the NBA, not only in the players market, but lately also in the sponsorship market and in the search for economic resources in general. And though I have always said competition is good for markets, we have to work at taking advantage of this pressure. At this point, it seems clear that a new situation, a new challenge or a global threat cannot be fought from local structures, nor with the same resources we used 20 years ago. We believe that Europe needs to generate its own project based on all the good and unique aspects of our basketball, and this project is not at all incompatible with the local competitions, upon which growth and the future are based.
For this reason in Berlin, with the support of almost 80% of its members, Euroleague Basketball presented a project where, contrary to what has been said, there is no closed league (a minimum of 9 teams can change each season), it is compulsory for each team to participate in the national league and the calendar continues to have games on weekdays.
Taking as a starting point that neither basketball or any other sport can replicate the football model, the fundamental change presented is to take into account the sporting results of Euroleague Basketball as an element to give stability to the teams that deserve it from a sports viewpoint, but maintaining direct qualification from the most powerful national leagues. In other words, it's the same model as the national leagues employ, but is even more open, making it a model based on a pyramidal culture as a characteristic of European sport, confirming the clubs as the system's key element and valuing sports results above any other requirements.
As such, no club that aspires to participate in Euroleague Basketball will be excluded if it works properly.
Dialogue, as opposed to noise, is necessary for all of us to be comfortable, dialogue about the future of European basketball that cannot be analysed solely from the perspective of local problems.
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Euroleague.net
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