Zoran Savic, former sporting director of Partizan, spoke about the current state of European basketball and the arrival of NBA Europe.
Having experienced the game from multiple perspectives – as a player, executive, and club official – Zoran Savic has seen European basketball evolve for decades. In an interview with Mozzart Sport, he first addressed the financial landscape on the Old Continent.
“It’s quite strange. There was a period of silence, and now, with the announcement of NBA Europe’s arrival, everything seems to have exploded in every possible direction. How sustainable is all of this? That’s another question. The ecosystem that has existed in Europe for more than 30 years is such that, in my opinion, basketball is the worst marketed sport among all major sports.
For example, in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Italy, television rights were incredibly valuable. The league was receiving around 10 billion lira annually, which was an unbelievable amount at the time. In today’s terms, that’s about five million euros. Yet, during my final season as a player, the entire competition had only €100,000 to distribute. The difference is astonishing.”
According to Savic, Europe has never seen this much money in basketball.
“A lot of clubs with significant financial power have entered the scene. I think there has never been more money in European basketball. After the crisis caused by COVID, the market recovered incredibly quickly. NBA Europe obviously knows something we don’t. Because, in my view, if they want this to work, they will have to bring money from outside the existing system, especially through television rights,” Savic began.
The landscape is expected to change even further with NBA Europe’s expansion, but what if that happens without an agreement with the EuroLeague?
“That’s the biggest problem. I think they are also looking heavily at the Asian market and trying to attract sponsors from Asia. It’s complete chaos. If they enter next year without an agreement with the EuroLeague, I think it will create a massive problem because player salaries will simply increase and nothing else.
On the other hand, I honestly don’t know where they plan to find enough quality players. I think that’s one of the main issues both for the NBA and for investors who want to invest in NBA Europe. They absolutely want a system in which even the best NBA players could potentially come over. The figures being mentioned right now, whether accurate or not, range from €500 million to open a franchise all the way to €1.2 billion. Those numbers sound unbelievable to me. But then again, considering the NBA’s experience, it’s the best organized sports organization in the world, so they probably have a plan ready for entering Europe.”
Still, Savic believes that little can be achieved without involving Europe’s premier competition.
“In my opinion, the best and only solution where both sides benefit would be some kind of agreement with the EuroLeague. Because if you further split the teams currently controlled by the EuroLeague – between the EuroCup and the EuroLeague, that’s already around 50 or 60 clubs. If you do the same with NBA Europe, it will be a disaster.
Simply put, you already have a product that is excellent from a sporting perspective. The only question is how to sell it. And with the current television rights revenues – which I believe are the only real avenue for growth – I don’t see how Europe’s existing broadcasters can make that happen. They’ve already reached their limit.”
Savic then turned to another source of revenue: ticket sales and fan spending.
“Everything can be improved, but this is a chaotic market. Take ticket prices, for example. In Italy, people are used to paying to watch a top-level spectacle. In Bologna, fans paid huge and unbelievable amounts for season tickets, at least when I was there. But in other places, people simply aren’t willing to pay that much.
In Paris, or in some other cities, clubs never really had the opportunity to charge high ticket prices. That was always a dream for those teams. In Greece, it was also very difficult to charge premium prices. Then you have the positive example we saw at Partizan, where people weren’t used to it either. In the end, when you have a good product, people buy it. That’s why every market is completely different.”
