Without Spartacus, but with the green Gura. What has changed in the VTB United League? – Basketball Euro Cup News – Basketball

SOLUTION № 1. INCLUSION "GREEN GREEN"

VTB League still expanded. Now the tournament will be presented immediately to 14 teams from 6 countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Estonia and Poland). Reconstitution – at the expense of "Green Gury" of the Polish city of the same name. And the benefits are obvious. First, 13 clubs for a major tournament – again, is not enough. And on the other hand – "Zelena Gura" will clearly increase the competition. Let's not leave in the fight for the title, but for the place in the playoffs – unambiguously.

The Polish team has a strong composition and a serious record. Since 2013, she won the national championship four times (in 2014 she stayed with the money, this season she took fourth place). In addition, the account "Guras" – four consecutive finals in the Polish Cup (and two titles), as well as three seasons in Euroleague (2014-2016). There are traditions here, there is a fan base, there are good players in the rotation, and most important – there are ambitions. "Zelena Gura" poses serious problems and is quite capable of solving them. For the VTB League, it's a good buy. This, in general, confirms the simple fact – for the inclusion of this club has voted unanimously all in the Council (and it includes representatives of all current participating teams).

Cons? Seriously – they are not. Some advantages

SOLUTION № 2. INNOVATION "SPARTAKA-PRIMORYA"

The club of Vladivostok became this year the champion of the Super League. Joining the VTB League was a logical step. It's time to go to the elite!

Alas, it did not work.

As Sergey Ivanov said, only two clubs voted for the entry of "Spartak-Primorye". CSKA and Zenit. Everything else was against it. Motivation? The VTB League has it.

– "Spartak" applied to two tournaments at once: the VTB League and the Super League. The club promised to give guarantees on the budget, there was a promise to play at the "Fetisov Arena", where the hockey club "Admiral" now plays. I will say right away that the arena has been chosen strategically correctly. But the problem is that previously, there were no basketball games here, and there is no basketball equipment out there. And there is not the most important thing – written guarantees of the club's budget. Therefore, by majority vote, the application of "Spartacus-Primorye" was rejected. Vladivostok was recommended probationary period: a year to play in the new arena in the Super League, and hopefully, then a year later, we will return to the examination of the application, – explains Ivanov. Although it's hard not to recognize the fact that many teams did not want to fly during the season to Primorye. Someone is just hard – since you have to play in the European competition. Someone is elementary expensive (all have no budgets at CSKA and Khimki level)

As a result, the region where basketball is loved, where there is a club with a solid history, where there is an excellent arena and good alignment with players who have experience in the VTB League will again be left without the League. At least for one year

SOLUTION № 3. Refusal of the "Four Final"

The experience with the "Final Four" was in fact recognized as unsuccessful. And with the new season in the United League, everything will return to play-offs full . In the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and finals will be played in sets of up to 3 wins. Under the 2-2-1 regime (the first two and, if necessary, the fifth match are held on the team's website, which took a higher place in the regular season). Everything is almost as before (until this season). With a warning – the playoff grid will be "floating". That is to say that the team with the greatest number of seeds at each subsequent stage is playing against the team with the lowest. So, it is accepted, for example, in the NBA. That no one has been tempted to "merge" the end of the season, in order to get the way to the final easier (read – to avoid a meeting with CSKA).

Cons? It is obvious – this format beats the plot of the tournament. Yes, CSKA and so all blown into the "Final Four", but still in the theory of the probability of defeating the army in a match is much more likely than in the series. In the series with red-blue nobody can cope in Europe. What about the discussion on the VTB League … In fact, we are back to the situation when the champion is again known in advance.

But there are more benefits, nevertheless. Part of them pointed Ivanov:

– All costs for the "Final Four" in the neutral arena were not attributed to the clubs, but to the League. And it has turned out to be a very expensive pleasure. In our Russian reality on the "Final Four", you will not win. We were in the red, but that 's not the goal: we spent a lot of money, which could send to clubs in the form of bonuses.

Of course, the position is reasonable. After all, it's better to help clubs than to get into the negative by trying to sharpen the plot. It is not the fault of the VTB League that the other teams can not climb to CSKA level. And money can be spent more wisely.

In addition, the number of games in the playoffs will increase. This means that viewers will have more opportunities to see interesting meetings. In clubs – win tickets. The League has the right to restock the budget through television shows and sponsors. And if from one side of the scale – all these advantages, and on the other – a hypothetical, purely ephemeral increase in the plot in the battle for the title, the choice is, in general, obvious.

In the VTB United League, they did it. An important nuance – for the return to the full playoffs almost everyone voted. The exception was "Nizhny Novgorod".