Possible Euroleague expansion to London?

[Leolovinliberal]

hi,
I apologize for my ignorance but since all of the talk about JC going to Olympiakos and other players leaving for the Euroleague I had a few questions. Now I know that Euroleague has no salary cap and teams can pay the players taxes plus perks, i.e car, house etc. Is this governed nation by nation or up to any team? Secondly, realistic or not could some British billionaire say Richard Branson or the easyjet dude, start up a Euroleague expansion team in London, call them the Werewolves of London (just having fun with that one) and play at the brand new o2 arena? If so they could sign a NBA players of British decent like Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and any other free agents like the wealthier EL teams are.

The thing is, unlike the other teams the Werewolves would be playing in a brand new NBA style arena to sold out crowds on a nightly basis and most likely command a pretty significant tv contract, plus merchandising and turn a substantial profit.

I'm just throwing this out there but would British law prevent my hypothetical from happening. Thanks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_O2_arena_%28London%29

[BadWolf]

It's possible, but not very likely, I'd say.
How popular is basketball in England? So far there wasn't much interest so far, why should that change suddenly?
There's no expansion in Euroleague, you have to earn the place. I think that a strong London team would be welcome in the end and they'll find them a place in the league. it's just that one other team will have to leave.
What should the income be? if you imagine 30-40m € budget, would that team make a profit to interest some major investor?
In football there is (was?) a law in UK that a player had to play at the highest level (ie national team, I think 70% of games) to get the work permit. I'm not sue about the details and how it applies to basketball.

[Leolovinliberal]

Thank you Badwolf for your thorough reply. It's funny that my hypothetical team was called the Werewolves of London and Badwolf replied to my question. lol

I think that yes, if marketed properly (like an NBA team) A EL team in London would be wildly successful. Londoners love everything "big league". NBA and NFL games that are played there sell out in minutes, literally. If a savvy owner signed some big name free agents, i.e Deng, Iguodola, Gordon and combined them with up and coming young British talent with slick marketing and the most modern arena in Europe=big time success. I would think that EL would make some type of exception to enter the London market. This is obviously a hypothetical, but if I had a couple of million euros to burn, I'd do it. lol

Thanks

[suckfish]

Other than the Euroleague, where would they play? The BBL is no way near good enough both financially and talent wise to have a Euroleague team. If you put together a team like you say, with the top British talents, they would destroy all other competition in the BBL.

Unless they only played once a week in the Euroleague?

I don't see how it can work.

[salaner]

I don't know if you guys are aware that the Euroleague has recently announced a new competition format starting in 2009. Out of the 24 participating teams, there will be up to 16 'permanent' teams, called 'category A', selected among those that have played at least four Euroleagues since 2000, and with a maximum of three per country; one 'category C' licence will be given each season to the winner of the Euro-Cup (former ULEB Cup); and at least seven teams will qualify every year for 'category B' by winning national leagues. The presence of up to 16 regular, permanent teams (all of which must play in arenas with a minimum capacity of 10,000) makes the presence of a British club even iffier in the future than it's been in the past.

[Nuzzo]

Wasnt there team from BBL in the Euroleague. I remember they they were cremated by 30 points every game.


In football there is (was?) a law in UK that a player had to play at the highest level (ie national team, I think 70% of games) to get the work permit. I'm not sue about the details and how it applies to basketball.
No, i am 60% sure that his law doesnt apply in basketball. And even if it applies to basketball, US player can get passport by Bulgaria, Germany, Greece...

[suckfish]

Wasnt there team from BBL in the Euroleague. I remember they they were cremated by 30 points every game.


In football there is (was?) a law in UK that a player had to play at the highest level (ie national team, I think 70% of games) to get the work permit. I'm not sue about the details and how it applies to basketball.
No, i am 60% sure that his law doesnt apply in basketball. And even if it applies to basketball, US player can get passport by Bulgaria, Germany, Greece...

London Towers were once in the Euroleague.

Things have gone even more down hill from then anyway IMO, plus the Euroleague has got stronger. It was bad then, I think it'd be much worse now. Besides, London Towers don't even exist as a pro club anymore.

[Leolovinliberal]

Wasnt there team from BBL in the Euroleague. I remember they they were cremated by 30 points every game.


In football there is (was?) a law in UK that a player had to play at the highest level (ie national team, I think 70% of games) to get the work permit. I'm not sue about the details and how it applies to basketball.
No, i am 60% sure that his law doesnt apply in basketball. And even if it applies to basketball, US player can get passport by Bulgaria, Germany, Greece...

London Towers were once in the Euroleague.

Things have gone even more down hill from then anyway IMO, plus the Euroleague has got stronger. It was bad then, I think it'd be much worse now. Besides, London Towers don't even exist as a pro club anymore.

But dealing specifically with my hypothetical; billionaire owner, brand new "NBA" style arena in the o2, major tv contract and merchandising and the signing of major NBA free agents. EL would be crazy to turn down an offer like that if it was presented to them. I'm just saying.....

[Apollo64]

Roman Abramovic was rumoured to be thinking about funding a London basketball team, but it seems he abandoned the idea.

[repLicante]

I don't know if you guys are aware that the Euroleague has recently announced a new competition format starting in 2009. Out of the 24 participating teams, there will be up to 16 'permanent' teams, called 'category A', selected among those that have played at least four Euroleagues since 2000, and with a maximum of three per country; one 'category C' licence will be given each season to the winner of the Euro-Cup (former ULEB Cup); and at least seven teams will qualify every year for 'category B' by winning national leagues. The presence of up to 16 regular, permanent teams (all of which must play in arenas with a minimum capacity of 10,000) makes the presence of a British club even iffier in the future than it's been in the past.

So FC Barcelona is moving to a new arena, I guess. Because its arena is far from 10.000 seats.
Besides, Not even Tau has the 10.000 seats arena, If I am not wrong they have a 9000+ seats one.

The only teams I know have 10.000+ people at their home games are Unicaja and CAI Zaragoza.

[salaner]

Euroleague teams will have a moratorium until 2010 to enlarge their gyms or move into larger ones. Spanish teams which already have 10,000+-seat arenas are DKV Joventut (12,000), Unicaja (10,200), Real Madrid (13,800), MMT Estudiantes (10,300) and CAI Zaragoza (10,500). FC Barcelona will have no problem finding a new, larger gym - it can move back into the Palau Sant Jordi (17,000).