FIBA has suspended a lot of national teams from Eurobasket 2017

[franckyvinvin12]

I think that in the end, the Champions League will go on the the Eurocup will be put off. The Euroleague will continue as a closed league with clubs that don't participate in their national championships, and I'm fine with that : the Euroleague will be a great competition with only high-quality games, and lots of games.

The Champions League will be the 2nd european competitions, and the 1st european open competition, regrouping all the national champions.

I'm all in for this.

[Mirotic12]

I think that in the end, the Champions League will go on the the Eurocup will be put off. The Euroleague will continue as a closed league with clubs that don't participate in their national championships, and I'm fine with that : the Euroleague will be a great competition with only high-quality games, and lots of games.

The Champions League will be the 2nd european competitions, and the 1st european open competition, regrouping all the national champions.

I'm all in for this.

I don't see any way possible that teams like Barca, Real Madrid, Olympiacos, and Panathinaikos would ever leave their national leagues. Their national championships, rivalries, and revenues from their domestic leagues are incredibly important to them - maybe even more than playing in Euroleague.

If Euroleague went to a closed league and cancelled national league play for the teams in it, then either these teams would no longer be in Euroleague, or they would have to make a special exemption for them - something similar to how the national leagues in former Yugo countries handle ABA Liga teams.

[franckyvinvin12]

I think that in the end, the Champions League will go on the the Eurocup will be put off. The Euroleague will continue as a closed league with clubs that don't participate in their national championships, and I'm fine with that : the Euroleague will be a great competition with only high-quality games, and lots of games.

The Champions League will be the 2nd european competitions, and the 1st european open competition, regrouping all the national champions.

I'm all in for this.

I don't see any way possible that teams like Barca, Real Madrid, Olympiacos, and Panathinaikos would ever leave their national leagues. Their national championships, rivalries, and revenues from their domestic leagues are incredibly important to them - maybe even more than playing in Euroleague.

If Euroleague went to a closed league and cancelled national league play for the teams in it, then either these teams would no longer be in Euroleague, or they would have to make a special exemption for them - something similar to how the national leagues in former Yugo countries handle ABA Liga teams.

I dunno, the Euroleague seems to want to have a lot a games played in a season, I'm not sure how it can be done if the teams stay in their national leagues. The national rivalries are always important, but Barcelona and Madrid will be able to have their rivalry in the Euroleague, same for Olympiacos and Panathinaikos etc.

Or maybe an in-between can be found, with national leagues cut into to halves, the first one being a championship without the Euroleague teams, and the second one including the Euroleague teams in some kind of playoffs.

I'm really not sure what's gonna happen, just trying to get a feeling on it, knowing that the calendar is going to be hell to manage.

[Mirotic12]

I think that in the end, the Champions League will go on the the Eurocup will be put off. The Euroleague will continue as a closed league with clubs that don't participate in their national championships, and I'm fine with that : the Euroleague will be a great competition with only high-quality games, and lots of games.

The Champions League will be the 2nd european competitions, and the 1st european open competition, regrouping all the national champions.

I'm all in for this.

I don't see any way possible that teams like Barca, Real Madrid, Olympiacos, and Panathinaikos would ever leave their national leagues. Their national championships, rivalries, and revenues from their domestic leagues are incredibly important to them - maybe even more than playing in Euroleague.

If Euroleague went to a closed league and cancelled national league play for the teams in it, then either these teams would no longer be in Euroleague, or they would have to make a special exemption for them - something similar to how the national leagues in former Yugo countries handle ABA Liga teams.

I dunno, the Euroleague seems to want to have a lot a games played in a season, I'm not sure how it can be done if the teams stay in their national leagues. The national rivalries are always important, but Barcelona and Madrid will be able to have their rivalry in the Euroleague, same for Olympiacos and Panathinaikos etc.

Or maybe an in-between can be found, with national leagues cut into to halves, the first one being a championship without the Euroleague teams, and the second one including the Euroleague teams in some kind of playoffs.

I'm really not sure what's gonna happen, just trying to get a feeling on it, knowing that the calendar is going to be hell to manage.

I think that is what would have to happen for the cases of Barca, Real, Panathinaikos, and Olympiacos. They make enormous revenues from their playoff games with each other, and they cannot lose that. Also, those national leagues cannot survive without those clubs. Even the ACB will be gone in 2-3 years without Barca and Real.

So I think it would have to be something like how ex Yugo countries' national leagues handle their ABA teams. They play as you say the league in two stages. One with the other teams in a league system, and then they drop the ABA teams into the playoff rounds.

I think something similar would probably also have to be done with Maccabi and Hapoel Jerusalem (took a Eurocup contract) in Israeli League. It's a league that can't make it without those two clubs, and those two clubs really need the revenues generated from their rivalry domestically.

In the case of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos for example, I don't see how Panathinaikos would ever agree to leave Greek League. Since the head of Greece's basketball federation is a former player, coach, and executive of Panathinaikos. And also since how the system works in Greek League, the league is run by a seperate league body, but the catch is that the president of the national federation is the one who picks the commissioner of the Greek League, and the vice commissioner of the Greek League. The federation president also controls the refs union of the pro Greek League, and he is the one that hires all of the refs for Greek League.

By no coincidence, the executives and refs in Greek League almost all come from the Panathinaikos club (former employees, players, coaches). And of course in Greece, the federation totally also controls the national cup competition. Something that is very outdated in modern European basketball - where in almost all of the important national leagues, the league itself runs the cups.

This is why in Greece, the fans of other clubs besides Panathinaikos, call the national league and national cup in Greece, the "Vassilakopoulos League" and the "Vassilakopoulos Cup". It pretty much guarantees Panathinaikos dozens of national domestic titles through leagues and cups. Something their fan base and ownership is addicted to. If they had to go into playing solely in a league that their owners don't have huge control, maybe even total control (Euroleague), then their fans will revolt and want to kick out their owners. Because all those years of winning national leagues and cups will end. And they will spend year after year without winning any titles, maybe never winning one again. That would cause a total chaos in that fan base, since they are so used to and so ingrained in knowing that even if they used their junior team, they could probably be assured of at least winning the Greek Cup every year.

So there are certain cases where just having the Euroleague only would not work. I definitely think they would have to do something like dropping the big Spanish, Israeli, and Greek clubs directly into their national league semifinals. I am pretty sure those national leagues would agree to it, because they know they can't survive economically without those clubs, without their rivalries, and without the revenues those finals generate.