May 25, 2012
NBA Europe Live press conference: Barcelona
Jordi Bertomeu - CEO Euroleague and David Stern - NBA CommissionerThe respective heads of the world's most prestigious professional basketball leagues, Jordi Bertomeu of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and David J. Stern of the National Basketball Association, spoke to the media prior to Thursday's final game of NBA Europe Live, featuring the respective champions of their competitions, Regal FC Barcelona and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Jordi Bertomeu, Euroleague Basketball CEO (opening comments)

"Good afternoon, and thank you for coming to this press conference. I would like to start with two statements. First, the sentiments we have in the Euroleague of celebrating this game as a party. It's wonderful to have a game in which the fans see the champions of the Euroleague and the NBA playing each other. We see it as a fiesta, a party at the start of a season in which the Euroleague is showing good signals in terms of basketball and economics. We think that a good way of celebrating that is with the champions of the Euroleague and of the NBA on the court together.

"It's also a party where the least important thing is the final score. We never thought that these games were about results, but rather about the promotion of basketball and a way to please the fans of our sport. This is the common objective we share with the NBA, and it has allowed us to share, from 2006 until now, 38 games between our leagues in 25 cities and 8 countries.

"And of course, I would like to express my gratitude, first to David and the NBA staff for their extraordinary cooperation in everything, and especially around this game. I also want to thank Regal FC Barcelona, in this particular case, for its crucial part in this game and the great role they took in making it happen. Lastly, I thank the city of Barcelona for demonstrating once again its commitment to sport. It confirms for us, not only with this game in our backyard, but when we will celebrate the next Final Four here in may, how the local authories seize the opportunity to have important events like these.

"As every year, and as FC Barcelona has done a couple years ago, the Euroleague sends two teams to the USA. This year we will have Caja Laboral playing in Memphis and San Antonio, while CSKA will visit Cleveland, Miami and Oklahoma City in the next two weeks. It shows that this program of cooperation with the NBA not only comes in one direction, but goes in both ways."

(question about the prospects for an annual game or games between Euroleague and NBA champions)

"In addition to what David said, which I agree with, to us it is something we would like to happen. We would like it because that would mean that we would have met the circumstances, both sporting and economic, to make a game like that possible. We can only hope and expect, and I do, that with the work of our clubs and teams, those conditions will be met. In the event that those conditions are met, and continuing the same collaborations we have had so far between the Euroleague and the NBA, I am sure such a game would be a possibility."

(question about whether NBA will open a franchise in Europe)

"My answer to this question is going to be boring, because it's always the same. We don't know and neither do we have an excessive interest in knowing the project of the NBA in Europe: for one main reason; knowing or not knowing their plans, we have only one path, and that is to grow and keep progressing. We need to keep improving our clubs' structure, their economics and the quality of our game to become as competitive and successful as possible. That's independent of what the NBA does. No matter what the NBA does, we can only draw one conclusion, and that is to keep working hard at improving."

David Stern, NBA Commissioner

"Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming. It is a pleasure to be in Barcelona again with many old friends and meeting some new ones. We have a wonderful relationship with Jordi and with the Euroleague. We have been working for many years with the Spanish Federation and the ACB. We have had a wonderful meeting today with the FC Barcelona to express our appreciation for their efforts. It's been a very productive day. In fact, it feels like I've been here for a week, and I arrived at 10 this morning. We are very excited about the prospect of the Basketball World Championships in 2014 in Spain and have pledged to work with FIBA, with the Federation, with Jose Luis Saez, to make this truly the best World Championship for basketball in history. We are all working to grow the sport of basketball, and this tour in Milano, in London, in Paris, in Barcelona, and next week we will have NBA teams playing in Mexico City, Guangzhou and Beijing are all part of our efforts in the NBA to grow the game globally.

"Now to Barcelona. Very exciting to be at this game. We have had the Lakers here. They've had a clinic. They've had a 5,000 people attending an open practice. Our fan zone outside has attracted over 50,000 youngsters and others coming to see it. There's excitement about basketball. And I must say that this couldn't take place without our partner EA Sports that is now in the fifth year of sponsoring Europe Live brought to you by EA Sports. And finally, tonight with NBA and the Canal Plus, we are going to feature the first live international game in 3D, which should be either very exciting or we'll find out, but I think it's going to be great. want to thank the many other local partners who have made this possible and the BBVA, our new partner, who has made the 3D telecast possible. And I know that I will see some of you at the NBA regular season games between the Nets and the Raptors in London in March as a demonstration of our continued collaboration with our friends in Europe to develop the sport of basketball, particularly as we lead up to the Olympics of 2012 and the World Championships in 2014. Thank you."

(question about the prospects for an annual game or games between Euroleague and NBA champions)

"Well, actually, we did that many years ago in something called the McDonald's Open. So there's nothing new about that. And in our own view today, we ‑‑ you know, this is a long journey. It begins with a single game, and we'll see after this evening how that works its way out. But I would guess that we will be in continued discussions with our friends at the Euroleague about an expansion of this possibility."

"No, it's really logistics is a big problem. I don't think we're going to play it in July after our championships, and in October it's ‑‑ we're in preseason, as we are now. Actually, our teams who came to London ‑‑ actually, in the Italian league, you start early, but the other leagues start late. It's really just logistics, something we can talk about. I prefer, quote, exhibitions, and even regular season competition, I don't like to put too much pressure on the players out of their leagues to push at each other too hard to prove any points that could somehow be dangerous and risk injury as well. But we've been doing it ‑‑ I mean, we actually did it in London, and we had the Spurs here as the champions, and they played the Euroleague champion in Milano. We had the Bulls in Chicago. So it's ‑‑ as I said to the gentleman here, it's nothing new. But it's logistically now, we'll see how that works."
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Euroleague.net
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