The clubs and leagues that make up the ECA Shareholders Executive Board heard on Monday from Euroleague Basketball management about the main indicators of progress for the two premier professional club competitions in Europe, the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and the Eurocup, while discussing a number of issues concerning the future of professional basketball. The board also approved the proposed list of teams that will participate in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and in the Eurocup during the upcoming 2015-16 season.

Board members were presented with the latest data on audience and fan engagement for the just-completed 2014-15 season, during which the Turkish Airlines Euroleague experienced healthy growth in all areas. On TV, the Euroleague reached record-breaking numbers in accumulated audience (1.92 billion), broadcasting hours (22,659), TV partners (75) and countries and territories reached (202). The total broadcasting hours represented a 35.5% increase over the previous season and the accumulated audience a boost of 4%. In digital penetration, visits to Euroleague platforms, including recently deployed local media partners’ sites, jumped 46% to more than 46 million, of which mobile users represented over 30% of total traffic. Social media aggregated followers grew to 1.23 million, a 41% increase over the 2013-14 season. Finally, arena attendance showed an average of 8,129 spectators per game, the second-highest in competition history after the previous season.

Safety and security came next on the agenda, with the presentation of conclusions and an action plan defined by the recently created Security Working Group, which met on June 26.

The club and league representatives also heard about conclusions from a meeting earlier Monday of the Business Working Group, which includes the most important professional clubs in Europe. The working group recommended creating additional revenue sources for the clubs and the league through stronger integration and harmonization of their commercial offerings in different categories, such as the digital and sporting goods business areas. New ticketing programme rules, common growth objectives and plans to further digitalize European arenas were among the additional topics that the working group presented to the board members.

On the financial side, the board reviewed the results of the 2014-15 season, which closed with a 14.8% increase in economic distribution to the clubs, 4% more than had been budgeted at the start of the season. Likewise, the board heard financial forecasts for the 2015-16 season that indicate new growth of 20% in such distributions, adding to the consistent progress of the league in the last 15 years, which positions European professional clubs basketball in the healthiest position ever, with positive expectations of achieving the objective of 47.3% growth in economic distribution to clubs over the next three-year cycle, as approved at the last ECA Shareholders Meeting in Istanbul. Attendees were also reminded of changes in the distribution model that will take full effect during the new season and put greater emphasis upon the on-court success of the teams, with increased victory earnings for each victory, highlighted by a €1 million bonus for the Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion.

Among other topics discussed by the board were new rules for the 2015-16 season, the creation of the Financial Stability & Financial Fair Play Management Control Commission, and the creation of a Eurocup Board.

Source: Euroleague.net