New host system a boost for Eurobasket, FIBA official says
by Onur Alten
ISTANBULSep 07, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Onur Alten
Sep 07, 2015 12:00 am
A change in the hosting system for Eurobasket, a top tournament for professional European basketball teams, may spur greater interest and economic gain for basketball on the continent, FIBA Europe President Turgay Demirel says.
Speaking at a press conference, the Turkish boss of the International Basketball Federation's (FIBA) European branch explained the newly made multiple host system and some of the new implementations.
Eurobasket ‘15 was set to be hosted in Ukraine but due to the recent political instability, the country was determined to no longer be a suitable host. Turgay Demirel said that he met with some of the leading authorities of Ukraine, including the head of state, and they made it clear that Ukraine won't be hosting Eurobasket in 2015 while not ruling out their desire to host the competition in the future. "We have given Ukraine priority as a host candidate in the next Eurobasket tournaments, however, they are not ready in terms of both political stability and infrastructure. It seems like hosting Eurobasket 2017 is impossible for them, but maybe they could host a group stage if a similar system is used then," the FIBA Europe president said.
The hosts of tournaments of this caliber aren't determined in a short time, and therefore Demirel said that they had to come up with the multiple host system since it would have been very difficult for a single country's basketball federation to organize the whole event in such a short notice. Demirel noted that there were some federations that offered to do the whole tournament by themselves, but FIBA chose to select multiple hosts. "The new system offers a lot of benefits and it is preferred to the old system in many circles around FIBA," said Demirel, underlining that it is also set to be quite successful and gross large ticket sales. "Having multiple countries hosting the competition helped for the ticket sales during the group stages; the stadiums will be full" FIBA Europe president said, adding that federations will be under a smaller financial burden since the hosting fee, which is about 8 million euros, would be split up between the hosts.
Turgay Demirel emphasized that a new ‘partner federations' system is implemented in Eurobasket 2015 upon his proposal. This system allows a hosting federation to partner up with another federation during the tournament, which means their teams would compete in the same group. Following this rule, Germany and Turkey, France and Finland, Croatia and Slovenia, and Latvia and Estonia agreed to become partner federations. "Partnering up with a hosting federation enables easier access to tickets, accommodation and tourism activities in general. The Finnish federation even arranged teachers in France so that the children of visiting basketball fans wouldn't have to skip school," Demirel said. In terms of media coverage, Demirel said that a record-breaking number of media accreditation will be made during the tournament, which will make the coverage easier.
Demirel voiced his excitement about the Eurobasket final, which will be held in a 27,000 capacity stadium that he hopes to see filled with basketball fans from all over Europe. When asked about Turkey's group, he responded "the contenders are in Turkey's group, which is unfortunate because two teams that are capable of seeing the quarter finals might not even make it to the top 16."
Demirel reiterated his aim to manage a growth rate that surpasses any sport in Europe, saying that European basketball's growth has been underwhelming compared to football since the start of the millennium. "FIBA is lacking what UEFA has in Champions League" said Demirel, stressing that the current format of the Euroleague fails to incentivize European basketball's growth. He said that there have been problems between FIBA and Euroleague which he hopes to solve during the next season. About the youth development and level of competition in Europe, the FIBA Europe President said "when you put aside the NBA, Europe is the locomotive of world basketball. We are trying to implement some of the programs that we have been doing in Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF). One of them is the support program for under-14 basketball projects that provides up to 25,000 euros. We have set aside a budget of 2.5 million euros for this program only."
Demirel said "The next FIBA World Cup has been postponed to 2019, which is great because it gives us time for working on the global marketing of basketball." When asked about FIBA's relation with NBA, he said there is "a high level of cooperation" between the organizations, and a committee that includes FIBA officials and Mark Tatum, the Deputy Commissioner of the NBA.
Turgay Demirel has been the FIBA Europe President since 2014, and will hold this position until 2018. He has been in FIBA Europe's board since 1994, which makes him one of the most experienced members along with the likes of FIBA President Yvan Mainini.
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