Regarding the establishment of an Agency for the economic and financial supervision of professional sports clubs, the Italian Basketball Federation and the Lega Basket Serie A, also following today’s meeting between President Giovanni Petrucci and President Umberto Gandini, announce what follows by starting from the premise that he believes there is a strong risk of conditioning the autonomy of the sports system, which is taken away day after day.
FIP and LBA are extremely amazed not only for having been kept in the dark about this provision which also concerns the Serie A basketball clubs but also for having learned about it, despite the obvious direct involvement, from the press agencies, a completely irregular method .
It is therefore confirmed, with a total lack of consideration for the world of basketball, the tendency to bring basketball into question only when it has to contribute to the costs expected to be borne by football clubs. A trend that is even more relevant than a form that affects the very foundations of the entire professional team sports system, in particular on registration for championships and, it seems, on sporting justice; both specificities of sport.
Going into the merits of the provision, the Lega Basket Serie A, after having read the text of the law, cannot help but express concern about the timing and methods of application of the same. Suffice it to say that the clubs begin to take care of the requirements for registering for the Championship as early as the end of April and, during the course of the season, are subject to periodic and continuous checks. Not understanding the urgency of a measure like this, FIP and LBA anticipate right now that the intention to pass on to the Serie A clubs the huge costs expected annually for the agency finds both subjects clearly opposed also by virtue of of the fact that professional basketball, contrary to what the law provides, has for years been kept outside of the distribution of the contributions that it would be entitled to under the Melandri Decree which, it should be remembered, applies to professional team sports. These costs, if anything is to be conceded, should at least be divided proportionally between the two sports based on their respective turnovers.
FIP and LBA, having only now had due visibility on the situation, hope that the Government, before taking the measure in question, will call basketball to the table, like football, for all appropriate considerations.
