There may be short term gain for Euroleague Basketball if it chooses to go to Abu Dhabi for the Final Four in May. The long term risk however is substantial, according to Emmet Ryan
The debate over where exactly we’ll all be flying next May is wide open. The Euroleague Final Four still doesn’t have a venue. Barcelona and Belgrade were the most discussed back in Berlin. I’ve even done a video discussing the potential of both and a few other Euroleague cities. There’s one city, that’s not even on the radar to have a Euroleague team, that is coming up more and more in conversation. Would Abu Dhabi really work as home to the 2025 Final Four for Euroleague Basketball?
Obvious short-term gains
In short, a Final Four in Abu Dhabi would make a lot of money for Euroleague. The capital city of the UAE would almost certainly provide a substantial guaranteed fee just to host the event. Given a key goal for Euroleague Basketball as an entity is to maximise returns for its permanent shareholders, money is obviously a good thing.
Money is, by a long way, the most decisive factor. Added to any fee from the Abu Dhabi government would be Euroleague being able to get great ticket sales from the 18,000 seat Etihad Arena.
There are other positives. This is a sparkling new arena. It’s one that has substantial experience hosting large sporting events. The UFC has gone there many times already and the World Swimming Championships were held there in 2021. Experience of on the ground staff and the operations that go with them is not an issue.
The fan impact
The mandatory positives are out of the way. On to the negatives. Flights, remarkably, aren’t going to feature here. Greece, Turkey, and Serbia, the three markets prone to bringing the largest amounts of travelling fans, are all well served and flight time isn’t terrible.
No, we’re talking costs. In general, Abu Dhabi is more expensive for the average tourist compared to Belgrade and Barcelona (the two most discussed contenders for hosting). Then there’s transport. Public transport infrastructure is far stronger in both Barcelona and Belgrade. Fans travelling to Abu Dhabi for a Euroleague Final Four will almost certainly be reliant on taxis. That is going to make the cost of a trip for basketball fans add up.
Then there’s the relationship impact for Euroleague Basketball with its fans. We’ve already seen how soccer fans reacted to Super Cup games being moved outside of their home country for financial reasons. This is the premier event of Euroleague’s season. Nothing gets more eyeballs on the competition at one time than the Euroleague Final Four. It’s not going to help those relationships.
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Impact on the product
This one is more ephemeral but real. The Euroleague Basketball brand relies heavily on a few things. One of these is having a super passionate crowd at its biggest event of the season. Sometimes, liquid enhancement plays a role in this. Have you seen the price of beer in Abu Dhabi? Even allowing for that, a lot of those fans are going to be priced out of a trip there.
Added to this is the fact that Abu Dhabi simply isn’t in Europe. It doesn’t even have any exceptional circumstances where teams from Abu Dhabi are regularly involved in pan-European sports. This isn’t some season opener or Super Cup. The Euroleague Final Four is the premier asset that Euroleague Basketball has. Taking it out of Europe is a form of brand dilution.
It’s also not even going to be the big showcase event for the sport in Abu Dhabi this season. The NBA is hosting a pair of pre-season games in October in Etihad Arena. Much as we’d like to argue otherwise, these will gain far more interest locally amongst basketball fans than the Euroleague Final Four.
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Missing opportunities – Part 1
Core market growth and reinforcement is useful to any organisation in any business. That goes for basketball as much as anything else. Abu Dhabi isn’t even on the radar for expansion, never mind having a team right now. It’s not a core market.
There are several such markets which would make a really big deal out of hosting a Euroleague Final Four. Beyond Belgrade and Barcelona, there’s Milan, Madrid, Athens, and Paris amongst this season’s cities with teams and access to suitable arenas. That’s just a sample.
These cities having strong fanbases already is good but Euroleague is in a competition that goes beyond basketball. Retention and growth in core markets requires investment of time and exposure. Money plays a role but it’s more the fuel for these other assets. When you take the top asset away not just from these core markets but beyond even expansion markets, you are losing out on this benefit.
Missing opportunities – Part 2
Euroleague Basketball has its core members. It also has markets it would like to explore. While putting a Euroleague Final Four in one of these markets might seem extreme, it’s certainly not completely unthinkable.
The goal, essentially, is market exploration. That was the purpose of London in 2013. This is broadly agreed upon by everyone as a failure. The safest way to gauge that is that it was meant to be there in 2014 as well. Then it got moved to Milan. Still, growth and finding new avenues of revenue matters to Euroleague.
That means examining markets that might be capable of hosting a Euroleague team in the future makes a heap of sense. While a team for the coming season, Paris makes that list as its position is currently entirely dependent on how it finishes in the standings this year. Valencia, likewise, is in the process of building a new arena which is expected to be finished in a matter of months.
Valencia makes for an extra interesting case as the city is trying to attract more major events yet missed out on being a host city for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. Those are just a couple of examples but growth markets make a lot of sense.
So what can be done with Abu Dhabi?
Well the bar needs to be lowered. Realistically a showcase rather than showpiece event makes the most sense for Euroleague Basketball. This could be the season opener on a designated night, say a Tuesday, of the opening round of games. Naturally, this would require a team giving up a home game but it’s an option.
Then there’s the concept of a Super Cup. This could be like the Super Copa Espana, with a weekend of semis and finals pre-season, or a one-off game. Throw in the Eurocup champions along with the three top teams from the prior Euroleague season or just the reigning champions. The goal would be to not add extra games to the pre-season schedule and have this replace another pre-season competition for Euroleague teams.
None of these is close to matching the Euroleague Final Four. None of these would garner Euroleague Basketball the kind of immediate revenue that a Euroleague Final Four would. These options do however present a way to use a partnership with Abu Dhabi to build the brand and attract attention at the front end of the campaign. That’s not a dreadful idea.
