Barcelona confirmed this Thursday that it has committed to continuing in the Euroleague for 10 more seasons, as expressed last week in the telematic meeting it held with the rest of the founding partners and owners of the European competition. “The Board of Directors has agreed to ratify the extension of the participation license of the first men’s basketball team in the Euroleague for the next 10 seasons (until the 2036-37 season), a competition of which it is a co-founding partner. The Board of Directors reaffirms its desire to always participate in the best existing competitions,” the Barça club explained in a statement. The entity chaired by Joan Laporta thus rules out, for now, its participation in the European NBA that intends to see the light of day in 2027.
The Euroleague has 13 owners with a fixed and secured license so far. Ten of them have renewed the contract that ends this summer for 10 more years, the same connection that unites the tournament with the sponsorship of IMG. They are Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Barcelona, Maccabi, Zalgiris, Baskonia, Efes, Olimpia Milano, Bayern and CSKA, although the Russian team has its place frozen due to sanctions derived from the conflict in Ukraine. The remaining three, Real Madrid, Fenerbahçe and Asvel, had until this past Thursday, January 15, to renew under the same conditions as the rest, like Barcelona, or, otherwise, move towards individual negotiations until the legal end of the contract, on June 30 of this year.
Barça has signed with the Euroleague despite the meeting it had with Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, last Sunday in London with the participation of Pau Gasol, who promotes the American project in Europe, and after also attending a meeting on Monday with possible investors in the project.
The key now to the conflict between the NBA and the Euroleague is the position of Real Madrid, which has taken steps towards the American League. However, three major clubs of the white team (Berserkers, Ojos del Tigre and La Gran Familia) issued a joint statement this Monday in which they spoke out against a possible alliance between the white club and the NBA and leaving the Euroleague. “Our commitment is to a basketball in Europe in which we can face historical teams with a basketball tradition. And, today, that is not the approach that the NBA Europe project seems to offer in which, of the current Euroleague, only Real Madrid would be. Going alone to this new competition would be a mistake… Real Madrid must always play in the highest continental competition and that, today, cannot be offered by the NBA Europe project. It generates more shadows than lights in the sporting aspect and the economic one,” expressed the fans.
On the court, Madrid continues to be on fire and reduced the offensive capacity of Monaco, the Euroleague’s top scorer (91 points on average until this match), to win 90-78 with 20 points and 7 rebounds from Lyles, and 13 and 10 from Tavares. Campazzo contributed 17 points and 10 assists. Scariolo’s team deactivated Spanoulis’ team, a finalist in the last Final Four and one of the fittest teams on the continent. The defensive growth of the white team is evident in the last matches after also subduing Barcelona and Valencia from that part of the game recently.
Valencia fell to Bayern Munich 93-89, their fifth defeat in the last seven games, after missing 30 triples (11 of 41). Taylor added 20 points.
This Friday, Barcelona visits last-place Asvel-Villeurbanne (20:45), a team that has taken the exit ramp towards next season’s FIBA Champions as a preliminary step to the European NBA, and Baskonia plays on the court of the current champion, Fenerbahçe (18:45).
Euroleague results and classification.
