Try telling Besiktas fans they are moving the team to Dublin lmao. They will rather burn the city than let that happen, most teams in Europe are tightly connected to the city/community, no way in hell you are moving cities.

First of all, whoever tries to move Besiktas to Dublin is getting skinned alive, and that is no exaggeration.

Secondly, Besiktas is fan-owned, meaning that whoever sanctions this decision is getting impeached and removed (and also skinned alive, but that is not necessarily legal).

Thirdly, Besiktas only has fans because it is named Besiktas and it is in Istanbul, where Besiktas has had fans for the last hundred years. It would have no fans and no commercial viability if it moved to Dublin.

Also Turkey isn’t even in the European Union.

Man, Americans and their silly questions make me laugh

Turkey is not the EU. But more to your point they wouldn’t have a fanbase in Dublin. Besiktas or any other basketball team for that matter since basketball is not popular in Ireland. Fanbases in Europe are historical and generational.

A Turkish owner would never want to move to Ireland. An potential Irish owner, would never buy a Turkish team rather than creating a new one in Ireland.

There has actually been some decent movement on the TV side of things through the introduction of Euroleague TV.

100$ p/y and you can watch every single Euroleague game (regular season + play-offs), alongside the Eurocup (if you’re a psychopath).

Marketing does remain an issue however, and one that is difficult to fix.

Personally, I would actually enjoy the introduction of a sort of “Designated Player” system similar to the MLS, where the league can fund some higher-profile/quality signings for teams (ideally for the ones who need the cash), in order to bring more talent to the league and turn some eyes towards us.

And then also make it an inferior viewing product piecemeal experience of watching a lot of adds with some basketball in between, start games randomly late to have people watch more apps and integrate gambling in everything?

I know this is not what you meant but I feel like increasing marketing may lead to that….

Hard to market themselves when Europe is mostly a one sport merchant and most of these “basketball” clubs live off the football merits. They are branch from a football team and have like 1/100th of the financial resources of the main branch, because there isn’t that much of an appeal to the big masses who center their focus mostly on football.

It is what it is. It’s a cultural problem.

There’s several issues with that, but the biggest one is European fan culture. Teams/Clubs that pop up out of nowhere backed by investors are looked down upon to say it mildly. Fandom here is very much rooted in tradition, and there is a lot of pride and loyalty to your club.

Here is a great example of what I mean: SV Darmstadt is a club that has been around since 1898, and in soccer for the time I’ve been alive has mostly been in the second, third and fourth domestic league, but recently had two short stints (3 seasons total) in the top league. They also have a Basketball department, of which the first team is in a regional (= below fifth, but technically still connected through the relegation system) league. I used to coach against them, and on some days where there wasn’t a soccer game, some of the soccer fans would be in the stands, chanting from start to end, waving gigantic flags. I’m not even 100% sure they knew the rules of the game (they did know the players for sure), but this was their club and they came out to support. I once jokingly asked who I had to pay to get this kind of atmosphere for our home games and they were offended at the idea of betraying their team for money.

I’m surprised they haven’t had more of a go at it in the UK. There’s a massive basketball fanbase here, and also an appetite for affordable sport to watch (football/soccer is expensive here).

Some of our teams are able to pack out their arenas but the standard is poor. Instead of getting involved in euroleague (with established/passionate fan bases) they’d have more luck moulding it in the UK.

Yeah, it’s nice having the 2 separate leagues. It would be cool to see Europe come up with an all star team that could come compete in the playoffs or playins.

To be fair, we learned/inherited that from the Europeans.

Yes, because offering to buy something from someone and then having them decline is oppression. Go touch grass.

A lot of clubs take international talent anyways. Why do you think Luka speaks Spanish?

Yes it is and euroleague teams are already semi franchise as the league is semi closed so I guess they want it to be fully closed.

Nba europe is also supposed to be semi closed last I heard with some clubs having a permanent spots and others through qualifiers from domestic leagues.

Nba europe is partnering with the FIBA so I don’t think they could do a fully closed league. At least for now.

That would require reading past the headline though

At teams, the employees (coaches, players) are employed to the team, in that city. You can change teams if you want and all parties (player, old team, new team) agree, but they can’t trade you without your consent. In franchises (like the NBA), you’re employed by the league, and if they say you’ve been traded to Utah, you gotta pack your bags and go. If they say we’re moving the whole team to Oklahoma City, you gotta go. You try that with a team and you’re getting laughed at or sued in Europe. Franchises are basically companies. It’s more a business, a brand, with the focus on profits, marketing, and not really the sport aspect and winning.

In Europe since you have promotion and relegation, you have teams, because some teams leave and enter the league every year. The NBA has franchises, and its the same 30 teams taking part every year, even if you go 0-82 you don’t lose your spot. NBA basically wants the same teams in NBA Europe every year, as it gives investors and owners the predictibility, and safety of their money. Europe doesn’t agree to this, they want a chance for some lesser known team who somehow has a great season, to be able to participate, and a team that won very few games, to be penalized for a weak season (you miss a year). If they miss a year, they get no TV revenue money, players might leave, it can easily set a negative spiral for some teams, and thus owner’s investment is suddenly worth less. It’s basically capitalism, you take risks, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Funny how America is so capitalistic in its economy, but not in sports :D

Just as an example, the team I support is Panathinaikos, based in Athens Greece. It has history since 1908 and it is the same club in all sports, Basketball, Football, Volleyball for both Men and Women.

A franchise will be something like Athens Shamrocks, something new that only exists in the context of NBA Europe. The Panathinaikos team in all other sports has nothing to do with it, it might get renamed to Athens Parthenon one day or even relocated and become Thessaloniki’s Towers.

Look at Bayern Munich. The soccer branch is an outsourced entity in which the majority owner is the general association Bayern Munich e.V. (which hosts all the other sports branches like for instance table-tennis, etc.). Same goes for the basketball branch (which plays basketball in Euroleague) in which the solely owner the general association is and only the pro team is outsourced but not the youth teams. The important part is that every John and Jane Doe can become member with voting rights in the general association of Bayern Munich e.V. The general association then decides whether to outsource, to take in outside investors, to relocate the branch, etc. I think you understand that this is hugely different from the franchise modell in the US where ownership is up for sale top the highest bidder

Largely clubs in Europe don’t move. It’s the licensing agreement in a franchise where you can move cities and keep history. If they’re clubs, they need to nominally represent the named area.

So if Real Madrid chose to move to Málaga, they can’t. You’d have to sell/close the Madrid club and then start a new club in Málaga from the bottom.

Think of CFB where every university is an independent entity vs. NFL where there is one collective business.

Nah we wouldnt care after a few years lol. LSU would do it and then everybody would try to copy

Haha the GOP would bend over and take it

It is the same though. The basketball department and the football department “lease” the brand from the core team. The companies are private but they do not control the Panathinaikos brand. DPG can take the club and move to Los Angeles and build a new team, but the “amateur” club can and has the right to revoke his “Panathinaikos” signature.

It can happen but it’s rare, and for big teams with huge fanbase and history like Besiktas is basically impossible.

Surely, that would need to happen in order get better sponsorships etc. However it is not an easy thing to do if the NBA sells its own supply with league pass and the world’s best players. Some guys here want see the best of the best and a 2nd tier wont cut it. In order to grow the brand you need the toys to do so. Big names can grow the sport, but the NBA wont let those go NBAE and NBAE wont be able to afford those. The die hards here in Europe know who Mike James is, but why should the casuals care if they can follow their favorite player/team like Lakers, Durant etc. for 125 €/year?

Even young european talents increasingly rather play in NCAA, and like to get included in the draft. Will NBA/NCAA stop this and diminish their own product? Will european clubs get compensation for it? I don’t think so … and the “basketball world” will remain tilted in favor of US, NBA etc. … and to what extent is growth than possible than Euroleague is already growing?

yes and we hate nba from the bottom of our hearts

Yes and as a corrupt entity that is perpetuating an imperialist agenda ridden with arrogance that Europe somehow needs them is disgusting. It shows zero respect for the Euro League and I am glad they told them to fuck off.

even know Americans don’t like NBA (the association). We cant even watch games in our own city

Its not when you realise the Euroleague only has Spain and France out of thr major colonizers. Tf do Serbia, Lithuania etc. have to do with it

What lol. I guess if you ignore basically the entire coastline of black sea and half the mediterran

Well the ancient Greeks did at least.

Niche as in it’s culturally important only in a select few countries. Sure, all the big countries have their fans, but ask some random German or Polish dude and the chances are basketball isn’t even on the map for him. Football (soccer) is probably the only sport that is universally loved in every country.