Exclusive: UK Engagement for Euroleague Final Four Tournament ‘higher than expected’
May 15, 2013
The amount of tickets purchased by British fans who saw Olympiacos take the Euroleague Final Four title at The O2 in London was higher than the organisers expected.
The O2 hosted the Final Four on Friday 10 May and Sunday 12 May which was sold out at a 16,145 capacity.
It was the first time Euroleague Basketball had been witnessed on British soil and figures showed that 30% of tickets were bought through the UK ticket store.
Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, Alex Ferrer Kristjansson, Brand and Communication Director at Euroleague expressed his delight at the figures: “We are definitely happy with the figures. That is a very similar percentage to local fans that bought tickets in all the Final Fours where there was no local team participating.
“That’s a very good result and even higher than would be expected.”
As well as hosting the tournament, Euroleague set-up a Fan Zone in Trafalgar Square to help promote the brand and created grassroots programmes with Premier League teams Tottenham Hotspur, QPR and Charlton Athletic, as well as the British Basketball League (BBL).
Kristjansson said that the progress made was good but was only a ‘little step’ to breaking the UK.
He added: “Having it at the O2 was nice but it was not our end goal. We had to present the event and make the UK people experience Euroleague through the Final Four and the event at Trafalgar Square.
“That gave local fans the chance to experience what Euroleague is and what the Final Four is.
“We also wanted key business people from the industry to attend the games. We invited lots of companies and agencies to experience the Final Four and that was important for us.”
The Final Four was broadcast in 199 countries across the world, by more than 70 broadcasters.
Kristjansson confirmed that Euroleague Basketball would be back in the UK, but it was too early to say when and if it would be the Final Four again.