Shay Shtriks: The interest in the BIBL in Israel is really serious

The 2011/2012 season of the EUROHOLD Balkan League is starting next week. There is something new in the League this year - for the first time there will be two Israeli teams participating - Galil Gilboa and Hapoel Tel Aviv. Just days before the tip-off of the new season, the BIBL Sports Director - Shay Shtriks answered a couple of questiosn for BGBasket.com.
 
The fourth season of the EUROHOLD Balkan League is starting soon. Are you happy with the development of the competition and what pushes you to keep on working on the project?
 
The first thing that is motivating us is the success from the previous three seasons. Also the fact that we are doing good things for the basketball in the Balkans, and especially in Bulgaria. A lot of energy, strength and big support are required, in order for all of this to happen. I will us the opportunity to thank to Mr. Asen Hristov and EUROHOLD. Really, the thing that drives us forward  is all of what we did during the past three seasons, and what we are about to do in the next ten.
The most important decision is taking in the two teams from Israel. It costs us a lot of money, because the league is responsible for the travel expenses of the participating teams, and now the broadcasting of the games will be more expensive, but what′s most important for us is that we set the league′s level higher and higher. I think that this decision will help a lot, because Israel is a basketball country. The game is quite different there, it′s really closer to the American style of play, and it will be interesting to watch how those two basletball "cultures" collide. The expenses durign the new season will be with 60-70 thousand Euro more, but I hope that it will raise the interest and increase the sales of the product.
 
How do you manage to find all the neccessary money? Are there going to be new sponsors for the upcoming season?
 
We have new sponsors, and now we are negotiating with another two. Of course, we have EUROHOLD, and as I said the budget of the league will be raised by 60-70 thousand Euro. We believe in this project, and our sponsors know that we will continue developing it. We still have some minor issues on the budget, which have to be fixed, but as the time goes on everything will be alright. In those crazy economical times, it′s really hard to find sponsors, but the reason for our success is that we believe in what we are doing. Currently we are negotiating with the biggest betting program in the world - Playtech and most probably they will be one of the new sponsors. We have also Pepsi Bulgaria, and we managed to get a good deal with Turkish Airlines, regardless of the fact that Turkey and Israel have political problems, after all we are not a political organization. Seven of the flights to Israel will be with Turkish Airlines, and the other three will be with El Al. We have good staff, which is doing a good job with the administration, and the job of me and Mr. Hristov is to find money for all the expenses. We are being brave in this period, and that′s why sometimes I′m disappointed by some teams, that we are already working with three years, and if I calculate, every team so far costs us around 90 000 Euro. Last season the budget was 235 000 Euro, as we still have some bills to take care, which are around 8% of all that. So sometimes I don′t feel good, when someone calls and tells us that we owe him 2000 Euro. Yes, we know that, but when the League starts we won′t owe anything to anybody.
 
Israel is the new country in the BIBL this year, what is the opinion of the EUROHOLD Balkan League there?
 
 
I was in Israel during the last two weeks. There is information about the Balkan League there, and the people are surprised about the fact that Galil Gilboa will play in the league, because they are the second strongest team in the country. They are in the EUROHOLD Balkan League because they had some issues with the Euroleague. In the beginning they probably wanted to use us, so they can show that they will play. But now, when they see that we are serious and that we work good, they are happy about the decision they made. I believe that they will be amont the strongest teams in the League and will help us raise up the level. In the meantime all the media in Israel is dealing with Maccabi′s participation in the Adriatic League and with Galil Gilboa′s and Hapoel Tel Aviv′s participation in the Balkan League. Our special surprise this season is that during the season, there will be a person all the tiem with the teams, who will make video interviews in English, and everything that′s happening around the teams will be visible in the website of the League and in BGBasket.com. This person will come to Bulgaria and I hope that in the future, with the development of the League, there will be somebody like this for the Bulgarian teams. We are starting this project now, it will cost us some money as well, but in the end we are doing all of this for the image of the League. I know that in the opening game of Hapoel Tel Aviv the hall will be full, and besides that I have an agreement with one of the owners of the Miami Heat and ex-owner of Maccabi Tel Aviv - Raanan Katz, who showed interest in the League. That′s why we moved the game between Galil Gilboa and Rilski for the 23rd of November. He′s coming especially for the game, and this will be a big event.
 
What can you say about the other new teams in the BIBL?
 
"Timisoara has a really strong team, plays good basketball and their gym is always full. I think that they will have a good performance during the season. I also think that Torus are a really serious side as well, they have a good squad and they will play in the big hall in Skopje - "SC Boris Trajkovski" and that′s exactly why they will host the opening game of the season. Napredak is a classic Serbian team, who will also make their debut on the 11th of October in Israel against Hapoel Tel Aviv. I can tell for sure that in the upcoming season there will be really good games. Some of the teams that are thinking from the start that they will be in the finals, in the end of the season will have to work really hard to get there.
 
What can you tell us about the idea of a Balkan League for women and for juniors?
 
"Three years ago when we started all of this, there weren′t any results and time during the TV broadcast, as well as many other things. As time goes by we are trying to make everything in the best possible way, to develop fast and good. Last season we broadcasted all BIBL games live on the internet. Along with that we had live statistics and reports about what was happenning at the games. Thanks to the BIBL, teams that were never heard before were introduced to the European scene, and also the sole participation helped for the clubs to organize themselves to work better. Me and Mr. Hristov feel that we have changed a lot of things. And we′re not talking about basketball here, as we aren′t basketball people, despite the fact that more and more Americans and Serbians come to play in Bulgarian, and now with the new project with the Israeli teams and Sportmedia and our website we showed everyone, that we can do things at a high level like in the Euroleague. We want to develop not only the league but the basketball in general. In reference to that, the start of a women league and a junior league is a great project. We received letters from clubs and federations, asking to organize those. Howevere there is a big difference betwen theoretically and practically. We made everything - we thought of the format, we made the schedule for junior tournaments. But when it came to the financial part, everyone disappears. By the way we are the only league in the world, that pays to the teams that play there. This isn′t stopping us, and we are working good with our teams. For the women and junior format of the league we didn′t receive the cooperation that we needed. The deadline for a responese to our proposal to all the clubs pаssed just a few days ago and unfortunately there won′t be a women and a junior league this season. Obviously everybody thinks that they have to be paid for everything, and for this reason, at this point our main goal remains the development of the men′s league. We are cooperating good with the men clubs, and a proof for that is that we asked them to take care of their expenses for the travels in the Balkan area, and w efrom the league will pay those to Israel, and they accepted. If anyone decides to make a women or junior league, I wish them all the best, but here most of the people think that they have to get paid for everything. Our main goal is the men′s league, it′s development and if we see that the decision with the Israeli teams was a good one, we can expand to new territorries."
 
 
What is your dream regarding the Balkan League? Do you think that like the Adriatic League someday teams like Olympiakos and Panathinaikos can participate?
 
"We have to be realists. Regarding the administration and organization, our league is at the same level with the Euroleague, the Adriatic League, the FIBA competitions and everybody else. When it comes to the level of basketball, we are a bit back. We will never be able to be at this level, just because the teams playing in a regional competition like ours won′t be able to have budgets around 10-20 million Euro. I am very happy and I want to congratulate Lukoil Academic for quailifying to the regular season of the Eurocup, but to be at the same level with a team rom the Euroleague, or Eurocup, you must have a budget of at least 3 mil. Euro every year. That′s why we offer to the fans our organization, our marketing model, but we can′t offer them the level of the basketball from the big championships. My dream is that the games in the Balkan League will finish with 5 to 10 points of difference. Together with that the halls to be full like the games and the Final 4 from last season. I will be very happy if one of our teams one day goes to the Euroleague. I will be the first person to congratulate them and I will be proud with what they did. We are doing our best to give the participants in the BIBL the best conditions, so they can show the best they′re capable of. I hope that we will continue to do this, and that we will have good sponsors and people will enjoy basketball."