Basketball Champions League gets visit from participating teams

On Tuesday, 31 of 40 participating teams of the 2017 Basketball Champions League (BCL) Regular Season were invited for a working session at the House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland.

The workshop covered a number of topics, including TV production, digital services, media operations and competition & games procedures. Jointly presented by the entire staff of the Basketball Champions League and FIBA Media, the meeting was introduced by Markus Studer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Basketball Champions League and FIBA's Chief Operating Officer.

"It's a very important day for the Basketball Champions League", he said. "We are very proud of receiving the teams that qualified for the first-ever Regular Season. It's a noticeable milestone in the development of this ambitious competition. I hope that the dynamic spirit that I witnessed today will influence what will be shown on the court in the coming weeks."

Teams showed a strong interest and were pleased with their visit of the House of Basketball.

"We were expecting such a workshop, together with the useful information communicated during the day," explained Jean-Claude Frey, Media Manager at SIG Strasbourg (France). "We are impressed by the level of dedication from the Basketball Champions League's staff, and also by what this new competition has to offer to our team. We are very much looking forward to this competition, which is an exciting prospect for a team like the SIG Strasbourg."

Amélie Bertrand, Event Manager at Proximus Spirou Basket (Belgium), could only but corroborate.

"This day was very fruitful. It was the opportunity to meet our colleagues from all participating clubs, notably from our group, which is very helpful in the perspective of the start of the Regular Season," she said. "Having the opportunity to be informed about the vision of this new competition by the management is a strong added value, and will help us to understand and communicate about the Basketball Champions League towards our fans and stakeholders. We believe that the formula of the event suits our needs and will propose some thrilling and challenging games."

Basketball Champions League CEO Patrick Comninos was likewise delighted with the constructive and enthusiastic spirit displayed by the participants throughout the day.

"We are convinced that such a get-together will help the participating teams to take ownership of the competition. With the Basketball Champions League, we hope to develop a competition environment focusing on the club needs. We believe that today's workshop is ideal in allowing the clubs to meet and discuss with each other, but also to share our vision for this new event."

The workshop is the first of two to be held by the Basketball Champions League. A second one, aimed at Technical Delegates, will take place on Thursday.

Click here to view the schedule for the Basketball Champions League Regular Season. The action tips off on 18 October.

The Basketball Champions League system is explained in the short video hereunder: