Nebojsa Covic, president of Crvena Zvezda, confirmed during an appearance on the “Luka and Kuzma” podcast our findings regarding Dubai.
The initial information obtained by the Basketball Sphere editorial team indicated that Dubai had not reached an agreement with any of the players rumored in the media as potential reinforcements. Additionally, all talks of multimillion-dollar transfers were deemed false from start to finish.
According to our portal’s sources, the budget of the aforementioned club for their debut season will be around 12,000,000 euros. Furthermore, based on our information, Dubai will compete in the EuroCup next season, a fact also confirmed by the team’s leader.
“We need to register everything with the ABA League and activate the office in Belgrade, where the sports part of the ABA League should be. And we need to make a decision for Dubai. They have defined their budget and proposed to the EuroLeague to play in the EuroCup in the 2024/2025 season. Also, by participating in the ABA League, they would not affect the placement of clubs in the regional competition. Dubai offers one and a half million dollars to the ABA League per season, covering all transportation and accommodation expenses.
The EuroLeague provides two million euros per season as a wild card, and all of this regarding the ABA League would apply for three years because the main decision has not yet been made. It is necessary to carry out the restructuring by the beginning of the new 2024/2025 season, where the ABA League would no longer be a public trading company but a limited liability company. The plan is to finalize everything by March 15th, and that is the proposal of Crvena Zvezda with which everyone has agreed.
There is Crvena Zvezda, Partizan, Budućnost, Cibona. Everyone has agreed, but that’s one thing, and implementation is another. This is a package deal, and if you pull something out of it, it’s unlikely to go. Regarding Dubai and Belgrade, there is relatively good connectivity, it’s about five to six hours. How long did it take to travel to Kazan?”, said Nebojsa Covic about the potential new participant in the ABA League.