Has one week left to Antonio Jesus Lopez Nieto so that two months have passed since he became president of the Unicaja. The former referee asked for 100 days to see his hand, who has already shown signs of the path he wants the Los Guindos club to take. His figure is known in Spanish sports, where he has always been related to football. It is surprising beyond Malaga that he is now in charge of a basketball team. On the occasion of the beginning of the ACB, the highest president has granted several interviews to the two mainstream newspapers with the most circulation.
One of the key issues on the table was the move to the Basketball Champions League, a historic decision. It is not the first time that López Nieto refers to it, who has had no problem giving the typesetter reasons for the change. He did it again. “It is for a strategic and future issue. We cannot be in the Euroleague. It is an unviable competition for us economically. We cannot keep the budget that is required. The Champions League is going to go further and allows us to face a more orderly and encompassing competition, with fewer games and more emotion, “he said in a conversation with The country.
The man from Malaga reflected on the present of the sport of the basket, which worries him especially. “The problem with basketball is that it is becoming an endogamous and niche sport. When I started refereeing, in the 80s, basketball was very close to football, with carousels on the big radio networks, with quintets that we knew on a run … In 1995 I even participated in the broadcast of that fourth game of the Unicaja-Barca final, remembered by Mike Ansley’s triple who did not enter, of which everyone was aware, “he recalled:” Then, basketball had a national notoriety because it was followed by much more general public. Right now it is a sport dedicated to a niche of experts and that reduces the ability to generate resources. “
For him it is essential that he be seen again on open television, he predicts a shuttle effect. “You have to take advantage of and imitate all good examples. A professional sport has to be based, to a great extent, on audiovisual rights, and basketball rights are light years ahead of football. And to revalue them, basketball has to generate interest in the general public. You need to go back to a free TV to get into every home. It is essential that basketball becomes everyone’s. I’m not going to discover them now, but if you see the basketball audiences they scare a little, if not enough, “he explains.
“The problem with basketball is the numbers. That’s what worries me. Basketball people are very calm, but seeing what they generate and what they spend on players, basketball is more expensive than football. We must work on finding formulas and resources to open this because, if not, the road will be difficult. Few salaries can be paid with the audiovisual rights that we have, “continued López Nieto, who gave more details of the situation:” Basketball is supported by atypical financing, not by what it generates itself. It is maintained either by football clubs or by institutions of an institutional or financial nature. We can hardly stay like this. We are lucky to have Unicaja behind us, we are the most solid financing and sponsorship project in European sport in terms of time and brand, but we have to be realistic “.
What has been found? “The numbers are worse than I thought. It can’t be all sponsorships and grants. It is necessary to look for that the own product generates its economic injection. I am convinced that basketball is very attractive and engaging. But you have to open up. This can’t just be for those who like to talk about pick and roll and rosters … It has to be for everyone in order to continue being the second professional league in this country. From humility, but you have to move forward, “the typesetter president said, giving some clairvoyant example:” You don’t have to be an expert to see the gaps. And then there are the schedules. We made our debut this Sunday at 20:00 in the afternoon, almost at the same time as the Valencia-Madrid football team on the same platform. So there is no way to find a way out. I have always liked the schedule of 12:00 in the morning with several games at the same time to generate the interest of the radio networks. They explain it to me anyway and tell me you are crazy, but I don’t think I’m saying anything outrageous. I am against the niche sport and more in one so beautiful and with so many possibilities “.
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