Consequently, the municipality will participate in the competition for the right to organize the final tournament of the championship “EuroBasket 2025”.
If the Latvian Basketball Union (LBS) acquires the right to organize the European Basketball Championship final tournament group tournament in Riga, the municipality will have to provide one million euros for this event in the 2025 budget, which is necessary to cover technical and organizational expenses.
On the other hand, if the right to organize the group tournament and final stage games of the championship final tournament is obtained, 1.5 million euros will have to be provided in the budget of Riga municipality.
As indicated in the information to the deputies, the organization of the championship in Riga will attract a large number of international participants and fans, media and press attention.
The championship would have a big impact on the city’s economy – calculations by specialists of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency show that the potential additional revenue from the competition, reaching a group tournament alone, could reach up to 20 million euros, while organizing a group tournament and final stage, additional revenue could reach 80 to 90 million euros.
The championship would be provided with a global live broadcast, creating an opportunity to watch Riga not only for the participants, but also for television audiences around the world.
EuroBasket 2017, which took place in Turkey, reached a television audience of 208,730,738 viewers from at least 87 countries. There were also a large number of followers on social media – 11,524,671 followers, who watched “VideoBasket 2017” videos 82,123,843 times.
Previously, the Latvian National Sports Council also supported LBS’s application to run for the “EuroBasket 2025” group tournament and final stage.
LBS Secretary General Kaspars Cyprus previously emphasized to LETA that “the 2025 European Championship could be the last for Latvia’s current star team”.
Jānis Strēlnieks and Dairis Bertāns will be about 35 years old, over 30 – Jānis Timms and Dāvis Bertāns, 30 – Kristaps Porziņģis.
“The government understands this well,” Cyprus said.
In the last 15 years, Latvia has successfully hosted 12 world and European championships for adult and youth teams, including the 2015 European Men’s Championship group tournament. At that time, the playoffs took place in Lille, France.
Based on this experience, LBS confirmed its interest in participating in the competition for the right to organize a single group tournament and also the final stage. At the LNSP meeting, the LBS application was evaluated both from the sports aspect and the impact of the competition on the popularity of basketball and sports in society as a whole, as well as the potential economic effect and benefits of the competition for the national economy.
In Latvia, all European championship games have taken place once. It happened in 1937 with the participation of eight teams. At that time, the champion was strengthened for the first time by the Lithuanian national team, which was strengthened by compatriots from the USA, but Latvia took the sixth place.
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