EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas confirmed that the EuroLeague is holding talks with BC Partners about the possibility of selling the minority stake.
EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas confirmed the reports about the EuroLeague being interested in selling a minority of its stake to private equity firm BC Partners.
"We are in talks," Motiejunas told Michael Long from SportsPro. "We opened that door – it's interesting to see what's behind that."
Back in September, Financial Times reported that BC Partners entered exclusive talks to buy a minority stake in the EuroLeague basketball competition.
Per the same report, the EuroLeague was looking to sell roughly a third of the business for more than €300 million.
"There's good examples and there's bad examples – obviously we want to have a good example," Motiejunas told SportsPro. "We just want to do the right thing because we saw some sports who got the money but did not get the upside that they wanted. We want to learn from others' mistakes."
"If you ask me, I think it's the future. You see how much money is going into the leagues, then into the clubs, how new sports are being created.
"It's a trend, and we understand it's a trend. So how do we use this trend in a good way? This is the challenge.
"We can grow as a league without investment, but if we have the right investment and the right approach, we can – maybe not the best example – use some steroids and grow faster with that cash. That would be the goal," Motiejunas continued.
Nevertheless, Motiejunas also assured us that he's happy with what the partnership with IMG will bring to the EuroLeague.
As stated by SportsPro, from 2016 to 2026, IMG committed to paying EuroLeague teams a total of €363 million, while any additional profits were to be split equally.
During this time, the revenue grew five times since 2016, rising to more than €100 million per year. In January, EuroLeague and IMG extended their partnership until the end of the 2035-36 season.
"It's a good partnership and they [IMG] can open many doors," Motiejunas told SportsPro. "The mentality we're trying to change inside the office is that we don't wait for them to come and say, 'Oh, these guys are waiting for you'."
"Now, we say, 'Hey guys, can you help us open that door?' That's a mindset shift [because] previously we kind of expected them to bring everybody and say, 'Oh, take this, take that'.
"For me as a CEO, I think we need to worry about it and not expect that IMG worries about us as much as they worry about UFC and WWE and all the bigger sports that they have [as clients]. With their help, we can grow much, much faster and much better. With their connections, we can get to anyone, and then it's on us to go and sell what we have," Motiejunas added.
