The 2020-21 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season starts this week and it will be completed as CEO Jordi Bertomeu clarified



After almost six months without action, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague will start the 2020-21 season and as Jordi Bertomeu said in a teleconference for the media partners of the competition throughout Europe, this time there will be a proper end on the floor.



Contrary to what happened last season, the EuroLeague clubs have already decided that a champion will be crowned no matter what may happen due to the coronavirus pandemic. As Bertomeu said: 'We have a plan B but we like plans A and ours is very flexible. We can change the dates and venues of the games. The teams have been very involved in this matter and have made it easy for us. We know that there will be difficulties during the season and we will see last-minute changes. We will see games that will be played in another country, reassignments of referees If things get worse and we have to stop, as happened in March, we would return to our May plan, to our plan B. Everything was ready, the only problem was that three or four teams could not leave their countries. That is why there was no 'bubble'. But we had all the logistics prepared, just like now. Plan B is not something we have to think about, however, if it's necessary, everything is ready '.



One of the main challenges that EuroLeague clubs will have to face is traveling around Europe, especially if they don't have booked charter flights. As Bertomeu explained: 'Flights are the responsibility of the clubs, but we understand that given the situation there will be times when it will be a challenge to travel to another country. This week a team that has to travel to Russia will make a stopover in the United Kingdom because there was no other choice. Or for example, there's Israel, where the government is very restrictive regarding the entry and exit of the country. That is why since June we have been working with several commercial airlines and we have agreements with two of them to facilitate the teams that have difficulty traveling'.



Of course, the EuroLeague has to also think fiscally and speaking strictly money-wise, Bertomeu talked about the club revenues of the previous season and also of the upcoming one: 'Last season we had reduced revenues between 20% and 30%. The agreement with ELPA by which the salary was reduced was important. For this season we have to focus more on income that goes beyond pure sports-related income. Normally the distribution of profits to the clubs from sponsors, merchandising, televisions right is 50% and the other half depends on sports performance, ticket sales, etc. This year we are going to change that balance to 80% -20% in favor of the guaranteed money. We know that clubs make a lot of money from ticket sales so the absence of fans is still a challenge. In some countries, there will be people in the stands, in small quantities obviously, but that does not depend on us but on the governments '.



Bertomeu also addressed the issue of having a 'closed league' with 24 clubs. As he said: 'I have never talked about wanting to be a 24-teams league. What we do want and this is our goal for the next two years is to establish our business. And for this to happen, the next step will be to accept two more permanent licenses for ASVEL and Bayern Munich. Things have stopped a bit internally due to the pandemic because we still have to unify our criteria and this whole situation has caused delays. But it's obvious that France and Germany are two very important markets for us and both teams are progressing on the court and also financially as we expected. That is why they are our best candidates right now. And soon more could arrive from France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, another market that we believe is fundamental for the future '.

