Beko BBL managment and its clubs’ leaders have one heck of a strategic planning meeting coming in mid-late June when the next instalment of the Beko BBL’s plan of becoming the top domestic league by 2020 will be hammered out.
Among the top issues to be discussed are a possible shrinking of the league from 18 to 16 teams; consideration of when the All-Star Day will take place or perhaps even abolished; the structure of the Top Four German Cup; the on-going schedule dispute with Euroleague and the implementation of the FIBA calendar starting in 2017.
“Nothing is taboo. We will talk about everything,” Beko BBL league president Thomas Braumann said Sunday.
“We practice participatory management,” said league CEO Jan Pommer.
Pommer made sure his comments were heard after the league was heavily criticised for the initial announcement of the CEO’s contract extension, where some of the clubs complained about not having a say in the decision.
Of the major leagues in Europe (acc to Braumann – Spain, France, Italy and Turkey), the Spanish ACB Liga Endesa is the only other league with 18 teams. And some Beko BBL clubs have talked about cutting two teams. Losing two teams would mean a hefty financial hit to the smaller clubs in the league – with two fewer home games. But it would be a big help in terms of scheduling issues for the league.
The league and clubs will also likely talk about when – and if – to play the All-Star Day. Euroleague has urged leagues to have their Cup finals in February but the Germans prefer end of March or early April and the All-Star Day in late January. Some say move the All-Star festivities to the Chrismas/New Year’s time but the clubs have attractive local derby match-ups always planned for that time period. And a later All-Star Day – a couple of weeks before the playoffs for example – would like cause a lot of teams to hold out their stars for fear of injury with the post-season right around the corner.
Another talking point will be the Top Four German Cup. The league is very pleased with how the event has developed over the years but there has been talk about possibly turning it into a Top Eight event – similar to the Copa del Rey in Spain. Such a decision would lengthen the event to four days – Thursday to Sunday – but would also create space scheduling-wise with the qualification games for the other three participating teams besides the hosts.
Beko BBL and its clubs will also discuss how to deal with the on-going changes in the Euroleague, especially in regards to games being played on Friday. And the introduction of national team breaks starting in 2017 by FIBA will also likely be discussed – including if and to what extent the teams must make available their players for national team duty.
There will likely also be new talks about the foreigner regulations – if they will keep the current 6+6 mode.