LONDON OUT, MILAN IN AS FINAL FOUR HOST
- Updated: July 4, 2013
London will not stage next year’s Euroleague Final Four with league executives opting to instead move the event to Milan.
Having originally considering moving their end-of-season showpiece to June, the weekend of May 16-18 is the date for the 2014 finale.
Euroleague executives had previously agreed a two-year deal with the Docklands venue but with the second year as an option.
And following disappointing ticket sales and television interest in their inaugural visit to London, alternatives had been actively sought in recent weeks with Milan beating out Belgrade, Kaunas, and Berlin as replacement candidates.
In a statement, the league said: “Euroleague Basketball, together with AEG and other local organisations such as the BBL and the City of London, will continue their common efforts to keep on investing in the growth of the sport in the United Kingdom through a series of initiatives already started last May, such as One Team, One London and its collaboration with the BBL Foundation, while studying new opportunities that may bring other events to the territory and a potential Final Four in the future.â€
The Mediolanum Forum, the new destination, is the homecourt of Euroleague club Milano. It will be hosting the Final Four for the first time since opening in 1990. After extension work planned for August 2013, the capacity of the arena will be over 12,500.
The draw for the 2013-14 Euroleague regular season groups has also taken place.
GROUP A
FC Barcelona
CSKA Moscow
Fenerbahce
Budivelnyk
Partizan Belgrade
JSF Nanterre
GROUP B
Real Madrid
Efes Istanbul
Zalgiris Kaunas
Bamberg
Milano
Strasbourg
GROUP C
Olympiacos
Siena
Unicaja Malaga
Galatasaray
Stelmet Zielona Gora
FC Bayern Munich
GROUP D
Panathinaikos
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Baskonia Kutxa
Lokomotiv Kuban
Red Star Belgrade
QUALIFIER
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