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The winner of the Gianluigi Porelli EuroLeague Executive of the Year Trophy for the 2021-22 season is Alper Yilmaz, General Director of Anadolu Efes Istanbul, who has garnered the award for the second consecutive year.

Efes's Yilmaz repeats as EuroLeague Executive of the Year 

Yilmaz was selected for the award by his EuroLeague peers as the best executive for the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign that finished with his team lifting the trophy as only the fourth back-to-back champion in the Final Four era. Yilmaz and Efes succeeded by keeping the roster virtually intact for a span of four consecutive seasons during which the team reached the maximum of three Final Fours. 

The Executive of the Year award honors the person and club whose management decisions have best exemplified the EuroLeague's commitment to excellence in all facets of club direction during the previous season. Among the categories considered before casting votes are sporting merit, fan experience, and marketing and communications. As more proof of the club's success both on and off the court, Efes was recognized with Euroleague Basketball's Gold Marketing Award earlier on Tuesday. Among the reasons Yilmaz's peers chose him for the award were his efforts to keep a championship roster together and the club's attendance records for the post-pandemic period. 

Yilmaz, 47, spent six seasons as a player for Efes at the start of the century. As a shooting guard, he also suited up for Turk Telekom Ankara, Tofas Bursa, Beykoz and Erdemirspor as well as the Turkish national team. After retiring as a player in 2009, Yilmaz was appointed Efes's sports director and was promoted to general director in 2015. 

The Gianluigi Porelli EuroLeague Executive of the Year has been awarded annually since 2005. The executive award recognizes those whose efforts build Turkish Airlines EuroLeague clubs into success stories. Mr. Porelli, who served as president of Virtus Bologna for more than two decades, was among the founders of ULEB and later its president. He passed away in 2009.

Yilmaz is the fourth man to win the Porelli Trophy for the second time and just the second to do so in back-to-back years. The other three were Marco Baldi of ALBA Berlin (2009 and 2015), Jose Antonio Querejeta of Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (2005 and 2016) and Paulius Motiejunas of Zalgiris Kaunas (2018 and 2019). This is also the third time the trophy has gone to an Efes executive, with club president Tuncay Ozilhan having received the award in 2013. 

For the first time in three years, club executives in communications, business, marketing and ticketing from across the continent met face-to-face at the Euroleague Basketball Institute Annual Workshops in Barcelona this week to trade ideas about how to continue dynamizing the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague fan experience now and in the future.

Business, media club execs together again at EBI Workshops

Architects who build bridges between stakeholders and fans, the club executives arrived in great numbers and spent two days brainstorming about the best ways to give current and future fans the best of everything from a competition in which every game matters.

The media directors gathered first to hear from Euroleague Basketball executives about the competition's post-pandemic rebound in audience and revenues and to plan how best to turbo-boost the many digital connections between the league and the fans.

"It was great to have a face-to-face meeting. For two years, we unfortunately had a mandatory break and had to meet virtually," Ilker Ücer, Media Director, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, said. "We can see that EuroLeague has a strategy to grow the product, and we as clubs have our own, too, but the most important part is to combine our strategies to grow the EuroLeague product. We are trying to do the best on the communications side to have the fans understand the meaning of this game and this organization. The digital side is the main focus, and we, as clubs, need to help the EuroLeague in this digital communications partnership."

Almost 50 marketing, business and ticketing directors arrived next and were updated on the many ongoing data collection and analysis tools available to them through Euroleague Basketball, as well as the creative resources to turn that knowledge into actionable offerings for their fans.

The first featured presenters were two EuroLeague Basketball partners who are global leaders in their fields: Nielsen Sports, in sports measurement and analytics, and Seven League, in digitization strategy.

"The speed of change we have to face on a daily basis is insane," Seven League chairman and founder Richard Ayers explained. "But success in that ever-changing world has incredible benefits for your business, your club and your sport. Technology is advancing the connections between fans and sport. Fans demand a voice. They are going to new meeting places, and they want us there."

The discussion continued with details of Euroleague Basketball's newly enhanced data infrastructure suite, which allows creating and delivering content across platforms to pinpoint audience segments, giving clubs the tools to tailor what they offer both longtime and prospective fans, especially young ones.

"After a long season, it's good to meet each other, to exchange ideas, to see new projects, and to see how EuroLeague is supporting us, not only during the season, but all the time," Roberto Bottali, Marketing and Sponsorship Manager, AX Armani Exchange Milan, said. "What I understood from today is that we have to understand how to engage our fans, not only on game day, but during the rest of the week. And we have to work together to understand how to widen our audience and reach the younger generation."

Separate ticketing and marketing sessions filled the rest of the agenda as each group drilled down on how to make going to the arena for EuroLeague games more special than ever, in the first instance, and how to synergize the shared interests of sponsors and fans, in the second.

"For every EuroLeague team and every ticketing director, this exchange is very important to see and hear what the other clubs are doing," Lutz Heck, Ticketing Director, FC Bayern Munich, said. "Today, we met together and created a customer journey in smaller groups and got all together at the end. It was very interesting... We can learn from each other."

Among the executives who took in multiple sessions of the workshop, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv CEO Edli Marcus emphasized the objective of engaging fans in compelling ways that transcend the fact that in every game, one team must lose, and after every season, there is only one champion.

"The most important thing is to try to sell tickets, advertising, sponsorships and content as experiences to be part of the team, unrelated to the team success," Mr. Marcus said. "When we collect and share new ideas here, it's a benefit for all of us, because we are not competing. We compete in the games, but not in the business. In business, we all have the same targets."

The project saw Efes launch a significant reforestation program, involving the club's players, supporters and partner +1. A number of activities included the team wearing special playing uniforms depicting the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with the club committing to planting trees in line with the team's success on the court under the motto 'Each Point Means +1Tree'.

New attendance records in the post-pandemic period, especially during the playoffs, allowed Efes to reach even more fans with the project, boosted by online and offline activations to further increase engagement.

Ultimately 10 seed balls were donated for each of the 39,261 fans who watched three EuroLeague games at Sinan Erdem Dome, and more seed balls were donated on behalf of other Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and 7DAYS EuroCup teams who supported the campaign on social media, taking the final total to 579,390 seed balls – enough to reforest an area the size of 600 basketballs courts.

The club also worked alongside partner Wilo to raise awareness about the importance of clean water resources, with the team wearing a specially designed playing uniform for the game against Real Madrid on March 22, World Water Day.

The Silver Devotion Award was taken by 2019's gold-medallist, Zalgiris Kaunas, for its project: 'Brand Monetization: Zalgiris Kaunas Licensed Product Family'.

Recognizing the significance of a business area that can generate additional income, Zalgiris developed a form of partnership that allows a manufacturer to add exclusive Zalgiris branding to its product range.

The business plan generates three-way income for the club: for the license, with a fixed monthly fee for the right to use the trademark; through sales, with a monthly success fee per product sold; and through advertisement, with revenue coming via sales arising from promotional campaigns.

The initiative included a wide range of Zalgiris licensed products, such as mineral water, cookies, chocolate, bread, detergent, watches, milk products, sandwiches, beer, nuts, potato chips, ice cream and cosmetics, along with a non-conventional product: Zalgiris Electricity.

The project objective, to find ways for the team logo to contribute to sales, proved a resounding success, with more than 31 million units of licensed products sold, providing 2.46% of the team's budget.

The Bronze Devotion Award was won by Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade for its 'We Are Growing Together' project.

With the goal of building a young fanbase, the project focused on educating fans about the club's history through exclusively created short-form digital content. On gamedays, Zvezda also implemented a 'Junior Stand', working with club partner IDEA to upgrade this area for young fans, paying extra attention to them and making sure they never left the arena empty-handed.

The club also organized several group visits, with children from all parts of Serbia invited to attend games, where they could enjoy activities such as 3D floor-mapping, music stages, DJ performances, a robot show, skill challenges, partner activations and giveaways. Further community engagement took place with the organization of various events, including e-sports tournaments, the ANGT youth tournament, One Team activities and sports conferences at universities.

Euroleague Basketball congratulates the three winning clubs and the many other clubs who also carried out excellent marketing projects during the season.

Following the example of their club's superstars on the court, Anadolu Efes Istanbul's off-the-court team has become a title-winner, too, taking the Golden Devotion Award at this year's Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Marketing Directors Workshop on Tuesday. Efes was rewarded for its #TakeAction project, an initiative against environmental degradation.

Climate change action sees Efes win Gold Marketing award

EuroLeague club meet for new season planning 

Their meeting, part of the annual Euroleague Basketball lnstitute Workshops, was attended by medical professionals from EuroLeague clubs, marking their third annual exchange of best practices on everything from staffing to injury treatment options.

Data presented showed that a combination of injuries and the ongoing COVID pandemic made the 2021-22 season no less challenging than the one before, all the more reason for the club medical staffs to pool their knowledge amid fast-moving developments.

The possibility of future COVID waves focused discussion on refining and updating the protocols used throughout the EuroLeague and the 7DAYS EuroCup so as to minimize any effects on the competitions or club staffs.

The team doctors agreed to tighten control over the concussion protocol that standardizes the time to be taken on each step of the recovery process for players suspected of having suffered such an injury.

Dr. Ignacio Muro, Euroleague Basketball's Medical Officer, also outlined the need to have certification courses in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator use (AED) even for non-medical club staff who may be working with players when medical staff is not present. 

After having faced and met many new challenges in recent seasons, team doctors from across the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague gathered in Barcelona on Friday to continue a close collaboration designed stay ahead of the curve on all medical needs at their clubs.

EuroLeague club doctors meet for new season planning 

Head coaches, referees get a jump on the 2022-23 season

Their day-long sessions drew upon lessons learned from more than 500 games across both competitions last season to identify ways in which the fan experience might be enhanced going forward.

Better understanding of rules interpretations and applications between referees and head coaches, who in turn pass on that information to their players, is part of a process every summer that aims to keep games clean at the same time as it makes them more exciting.

"Basketball is the only sport where you can switch the rules between one season and another to improve the game and make it more fun for the fans," Alex Mumbru, the new head coach of Valencia Basket, said after the meeting. "What's most important is for the fans to come to the gyms and see the best basketball in Europe. So it's important for the coaches, the referees and the clubs to be in agreement. We all want a great show."

Among the agenda items discussed in the meetings were officiating criteria applied in low-post situations and the circumstances surrounding unsportsmanlike foul calls. Another emphasis was off-ball situations with an eye toward enhancing freedom of movement for offensive players.

Jaka Lakovic, Gran Canaria

Being able to offer their direct opinions on how the games should be officiated next season proved a valuable opportunity for all of the head coaches.

"At the end of the day, we play this game for the fans to come in our gym, to support us, to watch and to enjoy the games," Dusan Alimpijevic, head coach of Frutti Extra Bursaspor, said. "Everything that EuroLeague and EuroCup are doing right now goes in that direction -- to improve the game, to make it more attractive, quicker and faster. For all of us coaches, it's really important to be involved in this and to affect somehow these decisions."

Just like the coaches will take conclusions from meetings straight to their players and staffs in training camps, next steps for the officiating department include educating the referees on what was agreed this week at the collective's annual preseason clinic, to be held in late August.

"The consistent evolution of the game, both how it is played and how it is officiated, explains why basketball is so dynamic and why we strive to get ahead of the curve each summer," Richard Stokes, Senior Director of Officiating at Euroleague Basketball, said. "Having the coaches contribute like this now, early in the process, is essential to the goal of sharpening what we all do to make the game better season to season."

Mazys Maksvytis, Zalgiris Kaunas

With a focus on improving the on-court action for fans, head coaches from the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and 7DAYS EuroCup held their annual meetings with the Euroleague Basketball officiating department over two days in Barcelona this week.

The Sports Business MBA brings a unique 360º educational model on sports business management, featuring online learning, face-to-face sessions and practical training in a sports business context. The e-learning consists of weekly lectures and assignments with end-of-module exams, Euroleague Basketball case studies and the preparation of academic papers, including an MBA thesis. 

The in-person sessions take participants to different destinations in Europe where they can enjoy access to four knowledge transfer centers: at the headquarters of Euroleague Basketball in Barcelona; at the Vytautas Magnus University campus and EuroLeague Basketball club Zalgiris Kaunas in Kaunas; and the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four.

Euroleague Basketball and Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) have officially opened the application process for the 2022-24 Sports Business MBA by EB Institute.

2022-24 Sports Business MBA - Launch of Application Procedure

The MBA offers maximum flexibility and sustained interaction with professors, guest lecturers and sports industry experts, allowing existing and aspiring sports management professionals to enhance their professional skills and develop a career in one of the most exciting and fast-growing sectors in the world.

Students enrolling in the course will be equipped with all of the necessary tools to become professionals in a broad range of sporting companies, organizations and endeavors, including clubs, leagues, international and national federations, sports marketing agencies, sponsors, technology providers and media outlets, to name a few. The course awards 90 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) to graduates.

Applications for the Sports Business MBA must be submitted by July 31, 2022. For more information please visit: <https://www.sportsbusinessmba.net> 

6th Sports Business MBA by EB Institute now receiving applications

The Sports Business MBA sixth edition opens in Barcelona

The 2022-24 edition of the Euroleague Basketball Institute's Sports Business MBA, delivered in collaboration with Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania, began late last month with the students of the MBA visiting the Euroleague Basketball headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, for the first in-person session. This year's class features a diverse and truly enthusiastic group of students from across Europe, North America and the Middle East. 

The full-week session included introductions to the study program and the six online modules presented by Vytautas Magnus University professors. It also featured presentations delivered by the Euroleague Basketball executives who spoke about a wide range of topics such as stakeholders in sports, partnerships activations, commercial strategy, sustainability, business intelligence and analytics, business operations and club services, digital and content marketing, communication governance and legal, events sports production, and basketball operations. The week also coincided with the European Week of Sport #BEACTIVE campaign where students participated in physical activities during a team-building session.

Lucie Schepens, France, digital project manager, Scallion DS:

"This week we already gain a lot of knowledge into the Euroleague Basketball ecosystem. So for me coming from outside of the industry was a lot of input to take in."

Simon Kellerman, Germany, ticketing manager, FC Bayern Munich Basketball:

"The first week was really great, we did a lot of interactions, a lot of discussions, a lot of interesting people. We exchanged also after class, and I already got a lot of input which I hope I can implement at FC Bayern Munich Basketball so I can help improve and develop the club."

Olajide Ojuawo, legal counsel-regulatory compliance, FIFA

"The chemistry so far has been great. We all have a passion for sports. That links us together from the beginning and then that love for sports, coming from different nationalities and academic backgrounds, bring that all together. It has been really fun, educational and a great experience so far."  

Students will now start the first academic semester of online learning with the professors of Vytautas Magnus University, guest academicians and industry experts before meeting again in Kaunas, Lithuania, for the second in-person session, where they will defend their term papers and receive presentations from the senior management of EuroLeague club Zalgiris Kaunas.

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The 2023 and 2024 Sports Business MBA classes met in Kaunas, Lithuania for their fourth and second in-person sessions, respectively. The MBA candidates received a warm welcome from Vytautas Magnus University's Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management, Rita Bendaraviciene, and then went for a walk around the brand-new university campus, which includes state-of-the-art classrooms and libraries located in the heart of the city center.

The 2023 and 2024 Sports Business MBA classes met in Kaunas, Lithuania for their respective fourth and second in-person sessions. The MBA candidates received a warm welcome from the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management of Vytautas Magnus University, Rita Bendaraviciene, and went for a walk around the brand-new university campus with state-of-the-art classrooms and libraries located in the heart of the city center.

2023-24 MBA Classes meeting in Kaunas!

The 2024 class listened to presentations from the Lithuanian National Sports Agency Director, the Sports Department Directors of Kaunas and Vilnius Municipalities and the Head of eSports and Gaming at Lithuanian Football Federation, while they also participated in a Q&A session with EB Institute Alumni and the Executive Director of the Lithuanian Basketball League.

The students also presented their midterm papers under the supervision of the module leaders and heard the first lectures of the upcoming modules, namely in the areas of Sports Management, Sports Economics and Finance and Sports Law and Governance.

Zalgiris Kaunas and its president, Paulius Motiejunas, once again opened their doors for the Sports Business MBA students, who had the chance to listen to the club’s senior management and a take a behind-the-scenes tour of one of Europe’s best basketball arenas.

With the 2023 class already present, both groups visited the recently built Olympic swimming pool and several sports facilities in Kaunas, before ending the day with a friendly basketball tournament at the university’s sports center, where the students played together with a group of wheelchair basketball players and learned about the general rules and characteristics of the sport.

For the class of 2023, it was also the culmination of a unique learning experience, where they defended their final master's thesis in front of a commission. After successfully graduating, the students collected their caps and gowns for the graduation ceremony in the Zalgirio Arena amphitheater, where they received their respective diplomas.

2023-24 MBA Classes Interviews

Vincenzo Di Giuseppe, from Italy, was feeling grateful after the graduation ceremony: “I’m really happy right now! I’m feeling that I’m terminating a long journey. It has been tough, hard, but it has been a great experience! I would do it again 100 times over.”   

Spaniard Javier Barcala was already looking ahead to his future: “Now with this MBA, I have more knowledge in the industry and a great network of professors, speakers and colleagues, so that will be very useful for my future career."

While Gabriel Hoyos, from the United Kingdom, shared his best moments from the 2022 edition of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four: “It was my first Final Four, which was coincidently my first EuroLeague game that I’ve actually been able to attend in person. It was incredible! Anadolu Efes Istanbul lifted the trophy, although I’m a Real Madrid fan, so that hurt a little bit. But it was a great experience overall, spent with great friends. I’ll take that memory with me for the rest of my life!”  

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