These days, we hear a lot about new Euroleague standards in terms of arenas, a new Euroleague group phase format, and even a closed Euroleague. All these discussions are amazing, and I want to add something else to the discussion pool.
Looking at the figures of the different European Cups I posted here a few days ago, there’s something that caught my eye. Some teams in the Euroleague like AJ Milano or Prokom Trefl Sopot really have disastrous spectator averages. On the other hand, you have a team in the ULEB Cup that has a great average; I’m speaking here of CEZ Nymburk.
The story behind my thoughts is the following. Nymburk played their ULEB Cup home games in Padurbice in a 10,000 seat arena. Padurbice is 63 kilometers from Nymburk. Additionally, Nymburk is also 50 kilometers from Prague, the former Sazka and now O2 Arena. Does this ring any bells?
The Euroleague wants to move to big cities and big arenas. A Final Four has already been played in Prague. Jiri Zidek works for the Euroleague as a commentator and is the media guy fpr CEZ Nymburk. Why does Sopot have a Euroleague spot while Nymburk has not?
I mean, the Czech Republic has a great basketball tradition and Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. When the Euroleague selects London as a new location, they could also go for the Czech Republic and Prague. At least they would be certain of immediately having dedicated public support.
