Andrey Vatutin, PBC CSKA President:
First of all, I want to say “thank you” to all my colleagues, clubs and the Euroleague, who expressed their condolences regarding the demise of our doctor Roman Abzhelilov from the effects of coronovirus.
The proposal of Jordi Bertomeu and our decision to support it is a necessary, but inevitable in the face of uncertainty. It is very important that the clubs came to a consensus, we remain together in the development of our competition. All two months we have been in close contact with the Euroleague, we greatly appreciate the efforts made in exploring options for continuing the tournament.
Everyone has difficulties, the situation is different in different countries, and I want to focus on common problems within the framework of our project. As club leaders, we are responsible for our teams, for the main asset of our competition – the players. They fight on the floor, they create show, they are the faces of our tournament. The economic factor was considered decisive previously, but guarantees of safety are becoming prevailing today. The main thing: together we believe that the continuation of the season would bring too many organizational problems, health risks, and general financial responsibility in case of infection of one of the participants. By resuming this season, we would risk losing the next. We are facing much more serious challenges – market turbulence, the economic crisis, the likelihood of games played without spectators. We have to think a lot about improving the TV picture, how not to lose our fans. It’s better to lose the battle, but to win the war. Thanks for the support to all our fans, sponsors, we will be back soon.
