Marco Baldi, Managing Director of the German champions Alba Berlin, sees the basketball hype as a result of the home European Championship also having a positive effect on the Bundesliga.
Looking ahead to the 22/23 season: Alba Managing Director Marco Baldi (right).
IMAGO/camera4+
“It is important that the basketball partners see what is possible. The league has become qualitatively stronger and more attractive in recent years, and that will increase with such an impulse,” said Baldi on Thursday.
The performances of the German team led by captain Dennis Schröder attracted many viewers to the TV, especially in the knockout phase, and also ensured high ratings in the young target group. “That has underscored our assumption for many years – if there is a presence, then people will look,” said the 60-year-old. Overall, according to Baldi, the EM was “very positive” for the BBL, whose attractiveness will “go up a notch” as a result.
Alba expects “difficult season”
Alba, most recently champion three times in a row, will open the new season next Wednesday (7 p.m./MagentaSport) with a home game against the Hamburg Towers.
Baldi expects an “extremely difficult, competitive season. We’ve had a lot of successes in recent years. Our competitors are athletes, and that of course has a very motivating effect on them,” he said at the Alba-PK. “We got a lot of attention, not just for winning the cup and the championship, but for our program as a whole. That may serve as a blueprint for some, but above all it will increase motivation. Especially nationally.”
Abroad, according to Baldi, “what we do is very well received. But everyone there knows the on-board resources we use to produce everything, and the expectations are certainly different than in the Bundesliga.”
