FIBA Europe President Jorge Garbajosa on NBA Europe

Jorge Garbajosa, President of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Europe, commented on current issues and new projects in European basketball at the Europa Press Sports Breakfasts in Madrid. Regarding EuroLeague CEO Paulis Motejiunas' remarks on the NBA Europe project, Jorge Garbajosa said: "I have a very good relationship with Paulius personally and I respect his views. Maybe FIBA had similar thoughts when EuroLeague was founded in 2000. But you have to be consistent; if we talk about a free market, it means a free market for everybody. We cannot say 'your monopoly is invalid but mine is valid'. There is also the issue of the sustainability of clubs and national leagues. I'm also worried that we don't have a Cinderella story in European basketball; we didn't have the example of Leicester winning the Premier League and going to the Champions League. Now it will happen. If a team other than the licensed ones wins the Spanish, Italian, German or Turkish league, they will have the chance to take part in this new organization. At least 20-30 percent of the teams will participate in this tournament with sporting success and will receive a fair share of the revenues. It will be an open competition. I think the biggest winners of this project will be the national leagues, because for the first time their potential will be truly realized."

"The NBA guarantees to respect the fundamental principles of European sport"

"We are actually talking about a tournament system in Europe that is more open than ever before. Teams from the Basketball Champions League (BCL) and national leagues will have access. In addition, the NBA guarantees that it will respect the fundamental principles of European sport. This shows that our friends from across the Atlantic understand European sporting principles better than some people here. As the supreme authority of European and world basketball, FIBA protects the common interests of basketball. That is why we continue to invite everyone, including EuroLeague, to the dialog table. It is our duty to unite and find compromises."Asked whether the EuroLeague is profitable, Garbajosa said:

"I don't know if the EuroLeague is profitable or not, but what I do know is that the participating clubs do not have a balanced budget. This information comes from the financial data that they themselves disclose."Emphasizing that FIBA has a different approach to the intensity of the games on the calendar, Garbajosa said: "While some continue to increase the number of games, FIBA does the opposite. We put the players at the center, we are interested in their health and well-being. We have reduced the number of matches that need to be played to win a gold medal in the World Cup, EuroBasket or the Olympics."

"We changed the format of the Women's European Basketball Championship (EuroBasket)"

On the new formats for women's basketball, Garbajosa said:"We changed the format of the Women's European Basketball Championship (EuroBasket), we changed from two hosts to four hosts because the best way to reach more spectators is to have more countries organizing the tournament. In the Women's EuroLeague, we changed the format from Final Four to Final Six and we changed the elimination system because we believe in this product. Not only because we support women, but because women's basketball is a very strong product in terms of entertainment, passion and level of play. We are just setting the stage for this game to have more impact."