Uli Hoeneß was satisfied with FC Bayern Munich before the start of the Basketball Bundesliga. At a press conference, the President spoke about the new requirements for Bavaria, the new hall and the positive development of the BBL.
Uli Hoeneß about …
… Basketball in Munich: “The sport has established itself in the city, it took us a few years. The double was a great performance, that has also arrived with the audience. You only have to look at the spectators in the Audi Dome. That’s how I see it for the future.”
… the Bayern Basketball project: “In the beginning it went really well. Then I was not there for two years for known reasons and I believe that little happened there. Now I am here again and now we measure ourselves against last year’s success. We now have to get a taste of the EuroLeague and hope to be eighth and reach the playoffs. That would be a huge success. Then in the middle of 2021 the new hall comes, that is a jump. There’ll be VIP boxes, more room for business. And if the DBB becomes European Champion, then the mail will be out.”
… the claim to be a top European team: “First of all we have achieved our goal with the EuroLeague. You don’t get the good players until you play in this league. I’m curious to see how we will adopt this rhythm, the Bamberg people had big problems with it. Having a game every two or three days is gonna be tough. We now want to get used to this competition and have the perspective of the new hall. By then at the latest, we need a good team to fill them.
… the goals for the coming EuroLeague season: “We mustn’t be so arrogant and think that we’re mixing everything up. We must be humble. Other teams don’t take the national leagues seriously at all, I’ve heard that from a Russian Interior Minister, for example. We want to become champions and qualify for sport.”
… the comparison with other top teams in Europe: “Madrid, for example, is making huge losses with basketball, football has to make up for that. We don’t do that.”
… the state of the BBL: “We now have a long-term contract with Telekom, the game of the week is now coming on Sunday at 3 pm on free TV. Money is one thing, but more importantly, we’ve found a partner on TV. We want to get better together with the league. We are something like the driving force, but it was important to us that another team will play in the EuroLeague next season. We have helped with sponsor deals, in order to make demands ourselves. We would also have liked to have made deals with ARD and ZDF, but that didn’t work out. The league must be seen on Free TV. In football it was the role model. Everyone thought that people would no longer go to the stadium, the opposite was the case.”
… the closed EuroLeague: “There will be no wildcards in football. We did not develop the EuroLeague, so we have to accept that when two large associations argue. In football, with the G14, there were also such movements, UEFA reacted and more money arrived at all. You just want to keep the best together.”
… possible follow-up obligations: “If there are injuries or we notice that we can keep up in the EuroLeague, then maybe we will do something again, then maybe we will tap sponsors again”.
… As professional clubs, we must also give young people the opportunity to play sports. It’s better than sitting at a computer. We were in Philadelphia with the 76ers and we liked the structure very much. If then the junior performance centre is paid off in perhaps two years, we can perhaps do something there. In Philadelphia, I was very impressed. That’s what I want. Maybe not in blue, but we can paint that red.”