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Jun 5, 2010, 12:24 pm
[quote name='skangles' date='30 May 2010 - 12:48 AM' timestamp='1275173305' post='21441']
The winning formula is UEFA. Finish well in your domestic league and you are in, if you have a bad season try again next year. If a powerhouse historic team fails to qualify for the Euroleague the responsibility is on them to try and recover. If they lose sponsors because of this, so be it. If they cannot recover, then go bust. I cannot justify rewarding inept team management and as a fan, I do not want the Euroleague to give handouts to teams that did not prove themselves in their domestic competition. This is the only way to ensure that every game matters both in the Euroleague and in the domestic league.
With that said, I am extremely grateful with the changes made to Euroleague last season whereby smaller league champions had a chance to qualify through a preliminary tournament. This needs to stay. Euroleague is slowly figuring things out but I firmly oppose guaranteed Euroleague spots as it runs counterintuitive to encouraging competitive basketball. The only exception to this that I can possibly justify is a guaranteed spot to the defending Euroleague champions and a guaranteed spot to the Eurocup champions because it is not guaranteed to a specific team year-on-year.
[/quote]
The problem is that the Euroleague does not have as many established clubs financially. So it does not work that way. You have to first establish the clubs and then you can make it closer to UEFA. As it stands now the Euroleague is just stupid that they don't include clubs like Aris and ALBA when they would bring in much bigger revenues for the league and increase the fan base.
I think what the Euroleague is trying to do with the qualifiying round is a nice attempt. Next year they will have 16 qualifying teams so we will see how that works out. But even that is a bit unfair. For example you want them to base it on merit, yet a team like Maroussi has qualified for the Euroleague 5 times in the 2000s decade and was only allowed to play once, after qualifying through two rounds even though they earned a direct qualification before that.
They qualified last year directly and then Euroleague told them could not play yet again but allowed them in the qualifying round because it was new. Now here they are in the Euroleague qualified again and their owner was told that next year Euroleague might not grant them one of the qualifying spots among 16 teams. This after they made the top 16 this year.
So the qualifying round is a nice attempt, but let's face it, they are using it to pick and choose what teams they want. The same with how they skipped over Hemofarm last year. I mean they practically do whatever they can to ban Maroussi out of the league. Maroussi is clearly the third best team in the 2nd best domestic league and is definitely a top 16 level club in Europe.
So let's be realistic, Euroleague is picking and choosing teams that they think will bring in fans and money. But they don't let them in the league automatically and make it easier for teams like Orleans to get in there. Why? It's only logical to put teams like ALBA and Aris in the league. It was the same way with Khimki and they kept refusing to allow them in the league unless they won the Eurocup. They finally let them in the league and they made the playoffs in their first year.
I agree that results are important, but they should revamp how they rate the leagues and how they give places. Spain should have 5 and not 4. Greece should have 4 and not 2. Italy should have 2 only and yet they have 4 every year and can even have up to 5 under the current format.
It should be 1 for France and they usually get 3 teams, etc. Germany should have ALBA in there, plus the German champ. Adriatic League should be given places itself, rather than places given to the countries themselves like Serbia, Slovenia, etc. That's the problem. They give too many places where they should not be because they look at Italy and France as the leagues making more money. Instead they should look at it as individual teams. And great clubs like ALBA and Aris that have everything you want a Euroleague club to have should be there.
Just like Rytas, they finally got smart and let them in. Those clubs should be also.
The winning formula is UEFA. Finish well in your domestic league and you are in, if you have a bad season try again next year. If a powerhouse historic team fails to qualify for the Euroleague the responsibility is on them to try and recover. If they lose sponsors because of this, so be it. If they cannot recover, then go bust. I cannot justify rewarding inept team management and as a fan, I do not want the Euroleague to give handouts to teams that did not prove themselves in their domestic competition. This is the only way to ensure that every game matters both in the Euroleague and in the domestic league.
With that said, I am extremely grateful with the changes made to Euroleague last season whereby smaller league champions had a chance to qualify through a preliminary tournament. This needs to stay. Euroleague is slowly figuring things out but I firmly oppose guaranteed Euroleague spots as it runs counterintuitive to encouraging competitive basketball. The only exception to this that I can possibly justify is a guaranteed spot to the defending Euroleague champions and a guaranteed spot to the Eurocup champions because it is not guaranteed to a specific team year-on-year.
[/quote]
The problem is that the Euroleague does not have as many established clubs financially. So it does not work that way. You have to first establish the clubs and then you can make it closer to UEFA. As it stands now the Euroleague is just stupid that they don't include clubs like Aris and ALBA when they would bring in much bigger revenues for the league and increase the fan base.
I think what the Euroleague is trying to do with the qualifiying round is a nice attempt. Next year they will have 16 qualifying teams so we will see how that works out. But even that is a bit unfair. For example you want them to base it on merit, yet a team like Maroussi has qualified for the Euroleague 5 times in the 2000s decade and was only allowed to play once, after qualifying through two rounds even though they earned a direct qualification before that.
They qualified last year directly and then Euroleague told them could not play yet again but allowed them in the qualifying round because it was new. Now here they are in the Euroleague qualified again and their owner was told that next year Euroleague might not grant them one of the qualifying spots among 16 teams. This after they made the top 16 this year.
So the qualifying round is a nice attempt, but let's face it, they are using it to pick and choose what teams they want. The same with how they skipped over Hemofarm last year. I mean they practically do whatever they can to ban Maroussi out of the league. Maroussi is clearly the third best team in the 2nd best domestic league and is definitely a top 16 level club in Europe.
So let's be realistic, Euroleague is picking and choosing teams that they think will bring in fans and money. But they don't let them in the league automatically and make it easier for teams like Orleans to get in there. Why? It's only logical to put teams like ALBA and Aris in the league. It was the same way with Khimki and they kept refusing to allow them in the league unless they won the Eurocup. They finally let them in the league and they made the playoffs in their first year.
I agree that results are important, but they should revamp how they rate the leagues and how they give places. Spain should have 5 and not 4. Greece should have 4 and not 2. Italy should have 2 only and yet they have 4 every year and can even have up to 5 under the current format.
It should be 1 for France and they usually get 3 teams, etc. Germany should have ALBA in there, plus the German champ. Adriatic League should be given places itself, rather than places given to the countries themselves like Serbia, Slovenia, etc. That's the problem. They give too many places where they should not be because they look at Italy and France as the leagues making more money. Instead they should look at it as individual teams. And great clubs like ALBA and Aris that have everything you want a Euroleague club to have should be there.
Just like Rytas, they finally got smart and let them in. Those clubs should be also.