According to exclusive information of TalkBasket.net the Slovenian Basketball Federation is extremely keen on making a bid to host Eurobasket 2013, as long as their candidateship is supported by the Slovenian government.
According to the Slovenian Basketball Federation estimations, a total sum of around 13-15 million euros would be required to organise the whole thing. [Although according to TB estimations the sum could be as much as 30 million euros including arena renovations and expansions.] If the whole idea goes through the four cities which would host the event would be Ljubljana (two venues), Koper, Maribor and Celje.
Ljubljana is expected to have a brand new arena of 12.000 capacity by then. As for the rest of the cities, although their arenas do not fulfil the requirements for such a tournament, with the right additions and improvements they could. And that is where the support of the Slovenian Government would come handy, so they could fund the neccesary works required.
FIBA Europe requires arenas of at least 5.000 capacity for the group stage and 12.000 capacity for the finals. Obviously the finals would be played in the new Ljubljana arena while Zlatorog arena [Celje – which is a relatively new arena build in 2003], big Tivoli arena (Ljubljana) which can hold 5.500 spectators, Bonifika arena (Koper) which can host 3.000 fans and Tabor arena (Maribor) which can hold just 2.500 spectators would be the venues of the Group Stage.
Iztok Rems, a famous former Slovenian referee and currently Secretary-General of Slovenian Basketball Federation stated:
"The idea of organising the Eurobasket first emerged in 2005 when the Slovenian (Basketball) National Team made a huge success in Belgrade when we managed to qualify for the next round and qualify for the World Championship. At that point we knew that we have a National Team which can reach the top. The second thing was the development of young players. The candidature for Eurobasket is not yet official because the bidding procedure has not started yet but we have already made plans.
The most important requirement regards the capacities of the arenas, a 12.000 capacity arena would be required for the final stage. We currently don't have a single arena which would meet this requirement (12.000 capacity). The arenas in Celje and big Tivoli arena (Ljubljana) meet the requirements for group stages while Tabor Arena (Maribor) and Bonifika Arena (Koper) have enough space to renovate and expend the arenas. The finals could be easily played in the new arena in Ljubljana which is already in process of building."
Another nation which is rumoured to be considering a bid for Eurobasket 2013 is, Slovenia's neighbour, Italy. The biding process will start officially next year. Eurobasket 2011 will be hosted by Lithuania.
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