The VTB United League President Sergey Kushchenko summarized the results of the League Board Meeting:
– The SuperCup is a traditional international competition held by the VTB League. This season, we plan to hold it in Serbia, Belgrade. The participants will be the 4 best clubs in the VTB League and 4 international clubs, which will be announced later, as we are waiting for the schedules of the leagues in which our partners play. We will announce this by the end of June. The stages of the SuperCup also depend on the schedules of the European leagues.
The average number of games will be 40. Another format we discussed today is the partner Cup, which may also take place during the season. We hope that international teams will confirm their participation, so we will announce this after the contracts are signed.
Why Belgrade? It is probably the most basketball-oriented city in Europe right now, where our League is respected. Moreover, they buy the rights to broadcast our competitions and follow us very closely. So it’s very simple here — our partners are welcoming us and will help with the organization. I hope everything works out!
The Euroleague suffers from Russian clubs absence, VTB League clubs, do not play; the competition would be completely different.
For some time, there was an expectation that our clubs would participate, but that was in the past. We have an excellent championship, and we can only watch what is happening in the Euroleague.
Nevertheless, our clubs are very competitive – Zenit, CSKA, Lokomotiv, UNICS, and others are finding players, primarily international players, who maintain the high quality. Therefore, the landscape of European basketball, as we now see it, is probably changing.
There will be a lot of good, high-quality basketball! Another factor behind the increase in the number of games is marketing. Clubs earn much more from ticket sales than they spend on flights. So the marketing in League is working!
The League supports all initiatives where clubs actively engage with their audience. The audience is growing everywhere. Sold-out arenas, even for the 3rd Place Series, not to mention the exciting Finals, all of this was seen last season. Next season will be even more exciting!
