Important Euroleague news: no more NBA Europe Live Tour
January 16, 2008 by Christophe
In a recent interview with the CSKA president about the Euroleague board meeting from last 15th January for the Russian website basketball.ru, a lot of very important decision have been taken and we will present those to you right here already before their official announcement by the Euroleague.
- The format of the Euroleague will probably be changed in order to have more quality games. This means that probably we will see a 4 groups of 6 teams schedule instead of the actual 3 groups of 8. This means that the first phase will have less games and the intense Top16 games will increase. On the other hand, this means also less games for the smaller teams.
- It is very probable that one of the next Final Fours will be played in Berlin in the brand new O2 World.
- For the 2008 Final Four in Madrid, 7000 tickets will be sold from which only 3000 will be available online. Good luck for anyone who wants to get one. Every qualified team will have the right for 1000 tickets. And because of higher VAT(16% vs. 7%) in Spain, the ticket prices will be (even) more expensive than for last year’s edition.
- The board also decided that no Euroleague team will be allowed anymore to play preseason games against NBA teams. The exact reasons for this are not known but some guesses are the "independance" of the Euroleague from the NBA. On the other hand, there may also have been some pressure by the NBA that does not want to come to Europe to lose games.
- Unfortunately, there has not been any decision on Server capacities of the Euroleague website. At least, the president of CSKA did not talk about it. However, the board was happy about the 260 million visitors of www.euroleague.net.
“there may also have been some pressure by the NBA that does not want to come to Europe to lose games. ”
It would probably be more fair to say “these games wouldn’t mean anything to the NBA teams, and would mean a lot to the Euro teams”
You aren’t missing anything, preseason NBA games are garbage. The good players barely even play.
when will we finally see a mini tournament of the top 2 nba teams vs the top 2 euroleague teams similar to there’s a club championship in soccer?
I, for one, really like the nba-euro teams, no matter if they play in europe (with euro rules) or in the US (with nba rules) …
I dont care who wins, if pao was beaten badly and obradovic was pissed of, technical fouls, or if the NBA loses its prestige (does it, really?) …
Remember, they are PRE-SEASON games, no reasonable conclusions can be drawn from such games, they exist solely for fun - and I do find them amusing and interesting, seeing these two different ‘worlds’ on the same court…
I really see no reason why they should be stopped..
Hey, wher do you find this amount “260 million visitors”.
It should be since the Euroleague website is online…;)
260 visits yeah right lololol
who can believe those numbers…
Sure thing. If the NBA teams get whooped, its because they didnt even try. If the euro teams lose, its due to the greatness of NBA players.
Same old story, right? World championships? They didnt really try. OK, they sent their best players, Melo, LeBron, Wade etc., but - they got owned - so they must not have really tried! Olympia? Same story.
Have i ever met such sore losers as american basketball fans? I think not.
Hey TheDude, the only time the Americans sent their best players they did win by alot, and last year was the closest they came to sending their best and they won every game easily. It’s not being a sore loser when it’s the truth. They year they sent Melo, Lebron and Wade those players were in their first seasons and they did not have Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan or Garnett.
I think theDude is right…too much excuses and the wrong ones.
The only thing you can really say is that 30 teams are too much, so talent is excessively divided.
About national team I think that the mean reason is the gap betwen european coaches and american coaches, the level of american coaches is terrible (only think that last year the award for coach of the year was given to the awful sam Mitchell…) and americans team are really unable to defend like a team. Player’s fault (basket is not only playground) and coaches MAJOR fault (teams may apprend to play, well, like teams…).
In fact, I don’t buy the “they didnt even try story” the only addiction was Kobe Bryant and surely is a great addiction, but just because you’re sayin’ this, well, I think you have to understand that there is a problem.
The only “addiction” was Kobe? Addiction to what? But anyway look at what happened when the Americans sent their best players, they beat everyone by several points. What is YOUR excuse for that?
Euroleague.net has to be making some serious bank, most likely over a billion. The nba big advantage was that it could pay more for it’s superstars that will most likely change.
Hi Busy, I have a simple one: the contenders were not so strong and the only (theorically) strong one was depleted and demotivated.
Anyway, I always have been a big nba fan (at these days I only watch nba) but I think that there are major issues that need to be fixed, first of all the arrogant idea that Usa team can play basketball not payin attention to leaster issues like defense and teamplay only because their players are more athletic than the others.
So, imho, they lose because are too arrogant to play together and to listen to their coaches (coaches -by the way- that I still think are lesser skilled than the european elite ones), any other considerations sound just like excuses.
[...] Important Euroleague news: no more NBA Europe Live Tour In a recent interview with the CSKA president about the Euroleague board meeting from last 15th January for the Russian website basketball.ru, a lot of very important decision have been taken and we will present those to you right here … [...]
Thanks but Basketball.ru actually just copied the news by AllSport news agency citing the source.
[...] league. I wanted to know about the possibility to see the Euroleague Final Four in Berlin as it has been reported here some days ago. He did not deny the information but he said that Berlin is a sure candidate in a [...]
[...] che fanno capire come il rapporto tra Eurolega e NBA sia entrato in una nuova fase: in occasione di una delle ultime riunioni del board dell’Euroleague (per l’Italia presente per la sua prima volta il presidente di Lega Corrado, accompagnato dal suo [...]
wait? there is basketball in europe?
David Stern tells us that the US brought b-ball to the world in 1992 and that it singlehandedely introduced the game to the savages abroad.
Isnt that what the NBA tour was about? Introducing europeans to a game called basketball thanks to such legendary tacticians such as Doc Rivers and Sam Mitchell to help the less knowledgeable coaches there learn from them.
I gotta give you folks credit, youve really caught on pretty well since 1992.
[...] we reported already earlier, there were only 3000 tickets to be sold over the net. If selling those 3000 in 72hrs is a success [...]
[...] Nuova formula per l’Eurolega? [...]
CSKA president must be outta his mind..Euroleague commissioner said that it’s not true there won’t be any other NBA-Euroleague games..not only that, more and more euro teams will play in the U.S. during the NBA preseason
Anyways, I guess we’ll know more about it next month when NBA commish David Stern will held the state of the league address during the nba all-star weekend..they generally use the all-star weekend to announce future NBA games in Europe
“the level of american coaches is terrible (only think that last year the award for coach of the year was given to the awful sam Mitchell…) and americans team are really unable to defend like a team. Player’s fault (basket is not only playground) and coaches MAJOR fault (teams may apprend to play, well, like teams…).”
How do you even qualify an ignorant statement like this?
“So, imho, they lose because are too arrogant to play together and to listen to their coaches (coaches -by the way- that I still think are lesser skilled than the european elite ones), any other considerations sound just like excuses.”
Accusing Americans of “arrogance” has become so typical among Europeans that to argue otherwise is considered abnormal. You obviously know nothing about the differences between the NBA and FIBA game. The issues affecting USA basketball’s international play have absolutely nothing to do with arrogant players playing for themselves and poo-pooing coaching instructions. Recent losses have more to do with the fundamental differences in how basketball is played and intrepreted in the NBA vis-a-vis FIBA. The NBA game emphasizes and promotes individual skill, usually to the detriment of team basketball. Isolation plays, limited or no zone defenses, clogged inside lanes, and “special” no-calls–like travelling and palming–which are common in the NBA no longer exist in FIBA, making it difficult for NBA players to adjust to international play. Even as highly skilled as Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan are, the shortcomings of the 2004 team serve as a prime example of what happens when you throw players together and expect them to simply *click* against teams that understand the FIBA system, play with better chemistry and are better organized defensively and offensively. These aren’t excuses, they’re legitimate reasons why the US has failed in recent years.
What’s truly funny is that you Eurofans actually think European players even have a fraction of the talent and skill that American players possess. That truly is hilarious.
“…there may also have been some pressure by the NBA that does not want to come to Europe to lose games.”
Cite your source.