Euroleague Basketball, the organiser of the top European clubs competition, has created a ‘chief business officers board’, which it said will “take the lead in the definition of current and future collective business strategy and of the collaboration framework between the league and the clubs to maximise revenue generation.”

The board will coordinate with EuroLeague Business Operations & Club Services, which was established last year to work with the clubs across all commercial areas to maximise revenues and create long-term business sustainability.

The board will be formed of the chief business officers of the clubs Kirolbet Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, FC Bayern Munich, Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens and Zalgiris Kaunas. The club representatives will be joined by two external consultants: Hasan Arat, a businessman and former Besiktas vice-president and professional basketball player; and Marshall Glickman, strategic chief executive of G2 Strategic, the USA-based sports consultancy.

Euroleague Basketball executives will also participate.

G2’s clients have included Spanish soccer’s LaLiga, top soccer clubs Paris Saint-Germain and CSKA Moscow, the Turkish Basketball Federation, the French Tennis Federation, the ATP and various individual tennis tournaments.

Euroleague Basketball added: “The CBO Board will discuss the current business management structures and strategies of the clubs and identify potential areas of collective and individual growth. These discussions will be powered by the insights delivered by EuroLeague BOCS in all business verticals, including sponsorship, ticketing, premium seating, digital, merchandising and licensing, communications, fan engagement, arena usage, venue development, organizational structure and executive recruitment.”

Earlier this year, a group of Members of the European Parliament was seeking to ascertain whether the European Commission was prepared to intervene in a continuing dispute between FIBA, the international basketball federation, and Euroleague Basketball over major fixture clashes.

Seven MEPs submitted new questions to the Commission asking whether it would take measures to prevent competition law violations and launch an investigation to help to resolve the impasse, which relates to EuroLeague fixtures being scheduled up against national team games in Europe.

The MEPs claimed that the Commission had previously indicated that it shared their views on the importance of national teams and that it urged the warring parties to find a solution, but that none has been forthcoming.

FIBA and Euroleague Basketball have been at odds over various issues, most notably new windows for international games introduced in November and February that clash with EuroLeague fixtures and mean top players cannot take part in both.

Last month, Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, appeared to weigh in on the side of FIBA when he delivered a warning at the opening of the general assembly of the European Olympic Committees in Marbella, this time alerting delegates that “the European sports model is under pressure, not to say threat.”

Taking as an example the long-running dispute between FIBA and Euroleague Basketball, Bach’s theme was that there is “a tendency of some governments and the European Union that the value of an organisation and activity is not determined by its value and contribution to society, but just by money and markets.”

Also last month, DAZN, the OTT subscription streaming service, secured the EuroLeague to its rights portfolio in Spain, when it launches in the country next year.

DAZN acquired exclusive Turkish Airlines EuroLeague rights in Spain from 2019-20 to 2022-23, and was also awarded broadcast rights to live matches and clips for the next four seasons of the second-tier 7Days EuroCup.

The rights deal was struck with IMG Media, which is responsible for negotiating deals on behalf of Euroleague Basketball.

Sportcal