2010
The Euroleague Final Four
Doron Tamari
BSAD352 – Sports Marketing
7/30/2010
2
Introduction
Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, and Europe is the epicenter of the world soccer
industry, featuring the top clubs, leagues, national teams, and marketing partners. While soccer is
undeniably huge, another sport has recently made strides in terms of growth, income, media
attention, and popularity; basketball is now firmly entrenched as Europe’s second most popular
sport, and this position seems like it will only grow in the future. At the forefront of European
basketball’s growth has been the Euroleague, a conglomeration of Europe’s top basketball clubs
which came about in 2000, when 24 of the richest teams formed a new league that would be more
beneficial to their needs. Today, the Euroleague is home to every major European team and
represents the world’s top league outside of the NBA. The marquee event of the Euroleague season
is the Final Four, where the top teams meet to determine the champion in a pan-European
celebration of basketball.
Executive Summary
The Euroleague, and its parent organization ULEB (Union of European Leagues of
Basketball), is Europe’s preeminent basketball organization, containing 14 national organizations and
acting as a central location for cooperation, schedule-making, and promotion. Headquartered in
Barcelona, Spain and led by President Eduardo Portela, the group’s mission statement is to facilitate
national team, continental, and local professional leagues across Europe while looking for support
and expansion opportunities. Although each situation is different, the ULEB believes that by
assembling the national federations together the other nations can take advantage of potential
openings and answer difficult questions. In the future, the ULEB will look to include more
federations while working to improve the situations of existing members.
SWOT Analysis
When looking at the Euroleague, there definite strengths which have helped the league
fortify its position as the top European league, but there are also weaknesses that may keep it from
ever overtaking soccer. In addition, there are opportunities for expansion and threats that could
curtail development or even pressure its existence. The important part is to plan recognize this and
have plans in place in order to capitalize, secure, or protect your company.
Strengths
The Euroleague’s strength is ultimately in the teams that make up the league. When it was
formed, the league competed with the FIBA Suproleague, but thanks to its Spanish, Italian, and
Greek teams, it was able to beat and ultimately destroy their competition, leading to a monopoly on
top-level European basketball. Legendary teams such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Maccabi Tel Aviv,
Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, and CSKA Moscow give the Euroleague a continental, and even global,
presence. For example, this past year the Euroleague was broadcast in 191 countries and had teams
playing exhibition matches in North America, South America, and Asia. The Euroleague is widely
recognized the second best league behind the NBA and attracts top players from around the world,
including several stars who have gone on to have successful careers in the NBA (Manu Ginobili,
Anthony Parker, Andrei Kirilenko).
Currently, Euroleague teams are present in 18 countries with populations that add up to over
530 million people, meaning that there is almost limitless potential in terms of ticket sales and TV
viewership. In addition, Europe’s largest cities are represented by Euroleague teams, including
Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, Istanbul, Athens, Tel Aviv, Rome, and Milan. With these large cities
also comes sponsorship opportunities with multinational corporations, larger arenas in urban areas,
and regional rivalries that help spur interest and increase fan participation. One final strength of the
3
Euroleague is the fans, which provide an intense atmosphere in Euroleague stadiums akin to
European soccer or college basketball crowds. The fans are passionate, loyal, and willing to spend,
providing a healthy base for the Euroleague to build upon. The
Final Four has been very well received by Euroleague fans as
well, selling out across the board over the past 10 seasons. In
addition, the growth in television and internet coverage of the event
has led to an explosion in sponsorship revenue from multinational
corporations that look to take advantage of the viewership
numbers.
Weaknesses
Although the Euroleague footprint extends across Europe, it is still lacking a presence in
many large countries and cities, such as London and the whole UK, Paris, Warsaw, Prague, and
Ukraine and the Netherlands. In addition, the German and French teams are rarely competitive,
leading to a lack of interest in two of Europe’s most critical markets. Another major weakness of the
Euroleague that has yet to be resolved is the revenue and spending gap between the larger teams and
the rest of the league. Since there is no salary cap or structure, teams are free to spend whatever they
wish on players, and each year the budgets for teams in Spain, Greece, and Russia seem to balloon.
While their owners do not mind writing the loss off as the price of putting together a winning team,
other clubs are not able to afford such luxury and must build teams using younger and cheaper
players.
Opportunities
One of the main opportunities available to the Euroleague involves its marquee event, the
Final Four. Each year, a city is selected to host the 4-day event, which includes several basketball
games, a year-ending convention, award ceremony, and fan events. It is televised in almost 200
countries, draws thousands of fans, and showcases the top teams, players, and sponsors of the year.
Since the event is not tied to any particular city or previous result, the Euroleague is able to schedule
it in different locations and could potentially expand the reach of the Euroleague to new markets.
For example, when the league wanted to increase its popularity in Germany and France, historically
weak markets, they held the Final Four in Berlin one year and Paris another. The events were both
sold out, featured local and international coverage, and helped to associate the Euroleague with toplevel basketball.
If the Euroleague was interested, the possibility exists to place the Final Four in new markets
or completely different locations that would highlight the expansion of the league. For example, the
Euroleague could select Buenos Aires to host the Final Four since Argentina is a basketball-mad
country with a large population, potential corporate sponsors, and historical ties to the Euroleague.
It would hurt some of the fans who like to follow their teams to the game, but it would also open an
entirely new market to seeing live Euroleague action. Finally, there are opportunities to increase and
improve upon the current marketing structure of the Euroleague, which will be examined further on
in this plan.
Threats
As previously mentioned, the single greatest threat to the Euroleague is soccer, by far the
most popular and monetarily supported sport in Europe. Almost all Euroleague teams are associated
with a soccer club as well (for example, Real Madrid has soccer, basketball, handball, volleyball, and
athletics teams) meaning that there is constant competition for attention, funding, sponsorships, and
fans. Although the Euroleague and its teams have grown, and in many cases thrived, soccer is the
4
main revenue generator for the parent clubs and therefore determines most teams’ budget. This
accentuates another critical threat: the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots of the
Euroleague. Some teams are able to spend exorbitant amounts on player and managerial salaries,
arena construction, and player training and perks, while others are forced to sell promising players,
limit expenditures, and trade promotional space for services and cash. As this trend continues, the
amount of teams that have reasonable expectations of success will only diminish, limiting the
interest of fans in key markets.
Marketing Strategies
Primary & Secondary Target Markets
The primary market for Euroleague basketball is difficult to peg due to the different style of
play and fan involvement in Europe. On one hand, there are the young fans that are extremely
passionate, buy merchandise, attend games, follow online, and have high involvement, but are
usually lower income and are only able to spend a certain amount on games. They may buy season
tickets for the team’s games, but the seats will not be in high-profit areas and their per-game
spending on snacks and beverages will be below most other fans. On the other hand are higherincome fans who would be more inclined to spend on seats, but also need to be coaxed and sold on
the idea; they may be fickle, especially in markets where there are other forms of sporting
entertainment readily available.
Ultimately, European basketball relies on pure numbers more than expensive seats, as
opposed to the NBA, which looks for corporate sponsorships and exclusive seating for most of
their game revenue. Due to this, it would be smart business to provide these fans with seating that
fits their needs and wants. The great aspect of these consumers is that they provide a fantastic
sponsorship opportunity; due to their love for the team, they devour almost all related news, videos,
online ads, print information, and television spots the club releases, so teaming up with a sponsor
can be very lucrative for both sides. For example, Regal, a Spanish insurance company owned by
Liberty Mutual, became the official sponsor of Barcelona in 2008, so the team is now known as
Regal FC Barcelona. The corporation gets to align itself with one of the most successful and popular
basketball teams in Europe and is featured on everything from the team’s shirt to press releases and
the court itself. This is much more powerful than sponsorships available in American professional
sports since the company is so prominently featured.
The secondary market should be older fans with more disposable income since they are very
important to the team’s bottom line; they spend more on tickets, food and other consumables, and
also provide an attractive audience
for the team’s sponsors. The most
successful teams are able to strike
a balance between low price and
high price tickets and low
involvement and high involvement
fans. Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 11,000
seat Nokia Arena has been sold
out for decades, yet they keep
prices in the upper bowl
competitive and at a premium in
the lower bowl; by mixing the
prices up, they are able to
maximize fan involvement and
potential income.
5
Product
The main issue with product in terms of European basketball is the fans demand
competitiveness; if a team refuses to spend on player acquisitions one year, even the most ardent
supporters will rethink their allegiance to the team. It is therefore imperative that the product placed
on the floor is a successful one. Success on the court breeds success off of it, and this is extremely
true when it comes to the Euroleague. In fact, if a team loses their national championship in Year 1,
they will not play in the Euroleague in Year 2, so one bad season could lead to two poor financial
ones.
Since the product in this case is basketball, and the premier event of the Euroleague season
is the Final Four, a plan that emphasizes it while expanding on the status quo could really enhance
the Euroleague’s current position. In order to increase the brand of the Euroleague in new markets,
the Final Four should be placed in a new market, as was mentioned in the Opportunities section; I
believe that New York would be an absolute dream location to place the Final Four, because it
provides key benefits, including: a huge media presence; basketball history and tradition; passionate
fan base; large European immigrant
population; and premier venues
(Madison Square Garden, Barclays
Center). The Final Four has been a
destination event for several years,
with fans traveling from all across
Europe in order to follow the teams
that make it; while New York is
farther than any European city, it is
still an international city that draws
millions of visitors per year and is
the closest North American city to
Europe.
Price
I would recommend providing a decent amount of seats at competitive prices to allow the
“hooligan” fans that make the arena atmosphere so captivating and enthralling to purchase tickets.
While this may seem like a move that costs revenue, it would actually create a scarcity effect, driving
up demand for all of the seats in the arena, including the more expensive seats in the lower bowl.
Overall, the team will be able to forecast sales with high success through this ticketing scheme since
they would be basically guaranteed to sell the “fan section” seats and as long as they field
competitive teams, would also have a very high chance of selling out most of the more expensive
seats.
In terms of the New York Final Four, the same script should be followed to achieve success;
since no team will be from nearby, it is important to draw locals in addition to those fans who will
travel from Europe. The event would be positioned as an elite level tournament similar to the
NCAA Final Four or the NBA Playoffs but more reasonably priced. By creating several pricing tiers
that start at a fairly low price of $100 for the whole weekend, New Yorkers who love basketball will
also be drawn to the event and expatriates of the visiting countries will go to root on their team; if
Virtus Roma of Italy were to make it to the Final Four, a very large Italian-American contingent
would be expected to come out and support their “homeland” team. I would also create four
separate fan-sections designated for the visiting fans of each team in order to create a wild and
competitive atmosphere throughout the tournament. Finally, the premier seats in the lower level
6
would be priced highly in order to draw more influential clients and raise revenues for the
Euroleague.
Promotion
Currently, the Euroleague does a majority of their promotion online. This is because of the
very large area that the Euroleague covers and all of the different languages, demographics, and
channels that exist across Europe and the rest of the world. The online platform allows the
Euroleague to fully control their message and offers one location for all news, interviews, photos,
and videos. In addition, Euroleague sponsors are featured heavily throughout the website, providing
opportunities for cross-promotion and access to fans from all of the different countries.
Holding the Final Four in New York would create literally thousands of promotion
opportunities. One important sales promotion that has been popular in Europe before is combining
airfare, hotel, transportation, and tickets to the event in one convenient and “less-costly” package. In
New York, there would be dozens of different locations available to partner with for hotel space and
several airlines that could exchange airfare deals for their name to be advertised in both markets.
The potential reach for Iberia Airlines would be in the millions if the company were to shuttle fans
from Madrid or Barcelona to New York while receiving advertising space as “The Official Airline of
the Euroleague Final Four.”
Finally, I would add a new element to the Final Four Weekend that would tie the event to its
new location in New York; an All-Star type game that takes the best European players (not playing
in the Finals) and pit them against a select team of American players from the NBA (not
participating in the playoffs). In addition, a dunk contest and three-point shootout contest that
combined European and American stars would be extremely captivating to watch and could be
heavily promoted through the use of the star players themselves. A similar precedent has already
been set by Major League Soccer, which has been bringing top level European teams to the US to
play against the MLS All-Stars; the most recent game attracted over 70,000 fans to Houston’s Reliant
Stadium, so interest in international teams remains high. Finally, partnering with the NBA already
has advantages since it is one of the largest sports in the United States and has a large global
following as well. Creating ticket or travel packages, combined advertisements, and fan contests that
draw from both sides of the Atlantic would increase interest for all parties.
Conclusion
By bringing Europe’s premier basketball event (the Final Four) to America’s premier city
(New York) and attracting premier talent (European and NBA stars), the Euroleague could see a
huge number of new fans and a potential goldmine in terms of sponsorship opportunities for itself
and its corporate partners. An undertaking of this magnitude comes with definite risk, but ultimately
if the product mix is created correctly, the sky is the limit when it comes to the future of the
Euroleague and the Final Four. There have been whispers that NBA Commissioner David Stern
would like to start an NBA Europe League, and what better way to show him the high level of
European basketball than by staging the largest Final Four ever right in his backyard.
7
Works Consulted
"BallinEurope, the European Basketball News Site » Blog Archive » Why Americans Should Watch
Euroleague Final Four." BallinEurope, the European Basketball News Site. 17 Apr. 2009. Web. 30
July 2010. <http://www.ballineurope.com/european-basketball/euroleague/why-americansshould-watch-euroleague-final-four/>.
EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL. Web. 30 July 2010. <http://www.euroleague.net/>.
Ltd, Art-Up. "Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv BasketBall Club." Web. 30 July 2010.
<http://www.maccabi.co.il/Default.asp?language=english>.
"Official Website of Regal FC Barcelona (basketball)." FCBarcelona.cat. Web. 30 July 2010.
<http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/basquet/index.html>.
Thomsen, Ian. "European Basketball Suffering Just like NBA in Economic Recession - Ian
Thomsen - SI.com." Sports Illustrated. 5 Mar. 2009. Web. 30 July 2010.
<http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/ian_thomsen/03/05/europe/index.html>.
"ULEB History." ULEB UNION OF EUROPEAN LEAGUES OF BASKETBALL. Web. 30 July
2010. <http://www.uleb.net/history1.htm>.
"ULEB Union Des Ligues Européenes De Basket-ball." ULEB UNION OF EUROPEAN
LEAGUES OF BASKETBALL. Web. 30 July 2010. <http://www.uleb.net/what1.htm>.
ULEB UNION OF EUROPEAN LEAGUES OF BASKETBALL. Web. 30 July 2010.
<http://www.uleb.net/index.htm>.