FIBA still open to dialogue, here's what they asked to Euroleague

The European basketball war between Euroleague and FIBA it's evolving and now looks like the two sides are trying to find a deal to work together. After a meeting between the two sides, where they weren't able to reach a final deal, FIBA is still open to dialogue. According to a source with knowledge of the situation, today FIBA sent a letter to Eurolegue and asked for the following requests:

• ECA will organise the Euroleague (EL), as the 1st tier competition; the 11 clubs can retain their A-Licence contract. One spot will be granted to the winner of the BCL (in case of a 16-club EL). More spots would be granted to BCL depending on the expansion of the EL (e.g. up to 4 spots in case of a 24-club EL).

• BCLSA will organise the Basketball Champions League (BCL), as the 2nd tier competition. In BCL, the domestic league rankings will be the fundamental principle for entry. BCL’s objective is to be a high level competition and a viable product for clubs who are not among the 11 A-License clubs and are not qualified on sporting merit to play in EL.

• FIBA Europe will organise the FIBA Europe Cup (FEC), as the 3rd tier competition.

• A joint calendar, bearing in mind that the calendars of the Competitions will respect the calendar of domestic leagues (in particular: no EL/BCL/FEC games on weekends); and the calendar of national teams. FIBA/FIBA Europe will be ready to discuss slight adjustments (e.g. of one week) in order to avoid scheduling conflicts, particularly for the “windows” of November and February.

• All clubs participating in the competitions shall release players to national teams in accordance with the existing regulatory framework.

• FIBA/FIBA Europe and the national member federations will provide adequate insurance for the players while on release, including non-European players. The FIBA Internal Regulations were amended recently in that respect.

• FIBA has also amended its regulations to allow for a scheme according to which a contribution deriving from FIBA’s profits from a national team event will be allocated to clubs releasing players.

• ECA would make an annual solidarity payment for the development of the 2nd and 3rd-tier competitions. The exact amount remains to be discussed.

• We are ready to accept the ECA business model and commitments with IMG, currently providing for a 16-club round-robin Euroleague competition for the 2016-17 season, may require a gradual expansion of up to 24 teams.

• We do express our clear disagreement to ECA’s counter-proposal for “around 40 professional teams” which need to “remain with them” is showing a fundamental difference in how we approach this collaboration and it seems like a clear attempt to rename Eurocup into “Euroleague division B” or something in the like.