The VTB United League president Sergey Kushchenko shared impressions of the start of the season, as well as the debut of Runa and Uralmash, who won their first games – against Avtodor and Zenit.
About the newcomers’ first wins
Firstly, Runa and Uralmash have been following very closely the teams that joined the League last season. MBA and Samara, teams with big ambitions, came in very brightly. And the newcomers drew the right conclusions from their performance in the season. I can separately say that Runa and Uralmash worked with the League very closely on marketing and regulatory things.
For example, after Runa’s first game many people asked me, «Where does Runa play?» They fulfilled the task to improve the Dinamo Arena at Lavochkina, because many people didn’t recognise the arena and the club took the League’s recommendations very seriously. Not everything has been done yet, but nevertheless the first game showed that Runa is going in the right direction.
Uralmash game in St. Petersburg showed that a well-assembled roster doesn’t solve everything. Zenit changed several players in the off-season, but Uralmash also changed a lot of things in the team. Nevertheless, they surprised the reigning SuperCup winner with great desire, very serious physical preparation and scouting. At the beginning it was obvious that Uralmash players were nervous in certain game moments. But then everything fell into place, because Zenit was probably not as motivated and treated the newcomer without proper respect.
And for the League, these two starting wins from newcomers are very important.
About Runa and Uralmash work with fans
New clubs will have a lot of competition with our old-timer clubs in audience interaction and fan engagement. Uralmash and Runa have done a good job in the SuperLeague. They prepared for a long time. And they had ready activations affecting their fanbases. Runa, for example, has a very young management and a completely different outlook on all the tools.
Of course, wins certainly make you pay attention. Uralmash win against Zenit attracted the League fans. Such games make people go to watch basketball. I used to make regional history in Perm, and when a team got its first games over CSKA or UNICS, we had a sold-out.
Runa, for example, has a more complicated history, they are already the third club in Moscow. The capital city is a difficult market, where you have to fight for attention. In my opinion, they have their own way: they keep young people, they work with people who like social media. Runa is trying very hard to be different.
We in the League really like how MBA is doing. They have a very interesting philosophy. But their whole focus is on youth, the training system and so on. And Runa, as it seems to me now, will take a slightly different path. I think wins like this will multiply their fanbase, the same social media. They’ll have a different segment, and that’s good for the League. They reach several types of fans, there is a mixing of audiences. Runa has both a 3×3 system and a women’s team.
The League certainly likes the newcomers’ work in this area, and we will support that. It also shows that the old-timers of the League need to be ready: all four newcomers who have entered our League in the last two years will test the nerves of the other teams.
About the season start
The first game days of the new season were very interesting and almost all games showed that this season should tune in to battle from the first rounds. There will be no light games. As we remember, almost all the clubs declared to be in the top six. Uralmash has already taken one win away from Zenit, and I would recommend teams like PARMA, Avtodor, Enisey to be ready to compete, as the newcomers this year are very ambitious and athletically strong.
In the end, I think both Zenit and CSKA will find their shape, UNICS showed who the champion is in their first official game. Therefore, any win before the end of the first round is the main goal for clubs that want to get into the top six. That’s where the teams that can beat their rivals and, as a bonus, win games against Zenit, CSKA, Loko, UNICS, or Nizhny, which is also a contender for the top six, will end up.
I can confidently say that we started a great and unpredictable season from the very first round.
