Following Euroleague’s recent Marketing Workshop in Barcelona on December 9, 6 new teams have joined the Euroleague Ticketing Program, increasing the total number of participating teams to 10.

Joining the 4 original teams that participated last season – Adecco ASVEL (Lyon-Villeurbanne, France), Alba Berlin, CSKA Moscow and Opel Skyliners (Frankfurt, Germany) – are Skipper Bologna (Italy), Tau Cerámica (Vitoria, Spain), Union Olimpija (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Efes Pilsen (Istanbul, Turkey), AEK (Athens, Greece) and Zalgiris (Kaunas, Lithuania).

‘This is a major step forward for Euroleague,’ said Chief Marketing Officer Marshall Glickman. ‘We have made ticket sales one of our top priorities and are very pleased that our program is beginning to attract much greater interest.’

At the recent Marketing Workshop, all four of the original teams were able to testify to the effectiveness of the program.

‘We have seen a 2 to 1 return-on-investment, measuring new ticket sales against the costs of hiring full-time ticket salespeople,’ said Alba Berlin Vice-President Marco Baldi.

Adecco General Manager Anthony Thiodet added, ‘Tickets do not sell themselves. Initially, we were a bit skeptical about using NBA tactics here in Europe, but the results have proven that the concepts of the Euroleague Ticketing Program work very well anywhere. And, we appreciate that Marshall has been very careful to adapt the program to the specific economic and cultural circumstances in each market.’

CSKA Moscow’s CEO, Sergey Kuschenko, noted that ‘we have seen a significant increase in income from ticket sales. We are very impressed that Euroleague’s program can work this well, even in Russia.’

‘We came into the program late,’ said Opel General Manager Gunnar Wobke. ‘But, I have my own money on the line with the financial performance of our club, so I consider this focus on ticket sales to be essential.’

The core principals of the program are based on the idea that tickets do not sell themselves.

‘Ticket selling is a very complex undertaking,’ said Glickman. ‘With our program, we are moving our clubs forward one step at a time. The key is that these clubs have hired full-time executives who are focused on meeting with small, medium and large businesses, face to face, to tell them about the business benefits of attending professional basketball games. And, we have encouraged our clubs to offer a range of options – it is very important to us that we develop a new and broader fan base that includes kids, teenagers, families, businesspeople and women.’

Euroleague CEO Bertomeu added, ‘The television marketplace is very challenging right now. We cannot continue to rely on television as our primary source of income. Ticket sales is a matter that we can control. There is no question about the quality of our games – for us, it is a matter of getting in front of people instead of just hoping people show up.’

For more details contact:

Marshall Glickman
Chief Marketing Officer
+34 93 327 8427
marshall.glickman@euroleague.net