Jordi Bertomeu Gives “Very Positive” Evaluation to Euroleague Final Fours in London

Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu is extremely pleased with how the Euroleague Final Fours went in London and feels the event has raised the profile of the Euroleague brand in the UK.

“Our evaluation is very positive, taking into account the challenging market that London has been for us and will be in the future as well,” said Bertomeu, in an insightful interview with SportsPro. “I think it is positive because, first of all, we had the opportunity to present Euroleague basketball in a market where we were absolutely unknown. I think that we managed to show an organisation and a sport that probably wasn’t what the sports industry and also the UK basketball community expected, in terms of the sport, the quality of the game. I think that has been very positive.”

The interview revealed that approximately 30% of total ticket sales for the Final Fours were to UK customers, which was “a little bit better” than expected. To put it in perspective, that percentage to the local market was higher than than the previous year in Istanbul, where there was also no domestic side competing.

“We really think that we have raised the profile of the Euroleague brand within the UK community and the UK basketball fan base,” continued Bertomeu. “We had very positive feedback from UK fans who actually didn’t expect to see what they saw, both in the arena with the quality and atmosphere of the games – it was something that they hadn’t experienced before with other competitions or the games like the NBA’s regular season games that have been played in the UK – and also in Trafalgar Square, seeing European basketball being set as it was.

“As we understood from the GLA [Greater London Authority], it was the biggest event ever built in Trafalgar Square. That also raised the profile of European basketball and the perceived quality by the fans in the UK.”

Looking ahead to the future for the Euroleague’s presence in the UK, Bertomeu aded:

“Now we have several weeks to evaluate the details regarding the Final Four. Also we have to listen to feedback from the clubs. But definitely there are some initiatives that we have this year that we want to keep doing in the future. We announced that we will be in the UK market with a stable basis, and it’s exactly what we are going to do.

“At this moment we have to see how we will work in the next months, again it’s critical to agree concrete programmes with the other stakeholders like the BBL and the British federation. I think that will take a couple of months to define but definitely we will have a concrete programme for Euroleague being in the UK market in the next years. That has to affect to the grassroots activities, but also the presence of our teams there. How [we do that] is something that we have to define, which also includes the Final Four [next year].

“But definitely, the consequence of the experience is that our decision to come to the market was totally right. With the Final Four, which is our top product, we had the opportunity to showcase our game and I believe it is a great opportunity and now we cannot lose. We have to keep working.

“This has been the first step, it has been good, probably better than people expected, but now it is time to take advantage of this impact and to help the game to grow in the UK; how always has to be with our partners in the market, the ones who know exactly what has to be done on the ground.”

Read the full interview with Bertomeu over at SportsPro and then come back and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!