The Dubai Basketball Club is negotiating with the Euroleague about participation in the European premier class.
This was confirmed by Abdullah al-Naboodah, owner of the newly founded club. The Euroleague had already made public talks about “potential cooperation” with al-Naboodah earlier this month.
“Negotiations with the Euroleague began eight months ago with the aim of including a club from Dubai in the prestigious competition and hosting certain matches in the city,” said al-Naboodah, who is also head of the 17,000-seat Coca Cola Arena in Dubai.
Entry as a sponsor denied
Meanwhile, al-Naboodah denied European media reports that Dubai had offered 50 to 60 million euros for the Euroleague naming rights, with the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (Emirates Airlines) being traded.
“We haven’t discussed naming rights as the competition has a commercial partner (Turkish Airlines, i.e. Red.) has”, said al-Naboodah.
League and club representatives invited to Dubai
The businessman had invited representatives of the Euroleague and the 13 clubs that are shareholders to Dubai. “The purpose of the visit was to exchange ideas and identify opportunities for possible collaboration”said Euroleague CEO Marshall Glickman after the meeting.
But be it “It’s still too early to go into details. We look forward to continuing talks.” From Germany, FC Bayern Munich and Alba Berlin are represented in the league.
Gulf States use events for sports washing
An agreement would be another success in the Gulf states’ way of securing top-class sporting events. For example, the new and controversial LIV golf series is being financed with Saudi Arabian money, and the World Cup is taking place in Qatar this year.
In addition, Formula 1 has already driven in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in the current season, the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi is still pending. The countries are repeatedly accused of sports washing when trying to host major events.