The basketball Bundesliga has decided against a season break. The concept for the hoped-for continuation of the season is extraordinary: ten teams want to choose the champions in three weeks in just one location.
Cologne (dpa) - Despite the coronavirus crisis, the basketball Bundesliga wants to choose its champions in tournament form at only one location with a core of ten teams.
Unlike the top leagues in German handball, ice hockey and volleyball, the 17 clubs and the top of the BBL unanimously decided against an immediate end to the currently interrupted season, the BBL said after a video session of almost five hours.
The German professional basketball and the Bundesliga are hoping to end their sporting season. Ten clubs want to start playing again as soon as politics allow it. The season has ended for seven teams, there should not be a sporty relegation.
"I think that's a very good result. The decision was based on a very solid spirit of solidarity and was made unanimously. That was important," said managing director Marko Pesic of defending champion FC Bayern, who wants to continue playing, the German press agency. "It's about the sport of basketball, about the Bundesliga in general."
The results of the main round have been deleted. Game operations are to begin directly with modified playoffs lasting around three weeks. In two groups, five teams each play against each other. Then it goes from the quarter-finals in knockout mode to the final. The goal of the league is to end the season by June 30, 2020 at the latest. For this, the official permits for training and game operations should be available no later than May 18, it said. The BBL is developing a hygiene and safety concept for this.
Who is going to host the tournament is still open. "If we meet the conditions for the event, we will definitely apply for it. I think we would have the infrastructure and logistics to host the tournament," said Pesic.
In addition to Bayern, the MHP giants Ludwigsburg, Hakro Merlins Crailsheim, Alba Berlin, EWE Baskets Oldenburg, Rasta Vechta, Brose Bamberg, BG Göttingen, ratiopharm ulm and Fraport Skyliners from Frankfurt are playing for the title. "We are a sports company and look forward to finishing the season in a sporting manner. All of this, of course, against the background that the framework conditions can be met and give both politicians and the Robert Koch Institute the green light," said Arne Dirks, managing director of Bamberg. The former series champion was originally for a break in the season.
Seven clubs decided not to continue the season, including s.Oliver Würzburg - as the only team that was on a playoff spot at the time of the interruption. In addition, the basketball Löwen Braunschweig, medi Bayreuth, Gießen 46ers, the Telekom Baskets Bonn, Syntainics MBC from Weißenfels and promoted Hamburg Towers are no longer there.
The last Bundesliga games had been played more than seven weeks ago. Before the interruption, the reigning champions FC Bayern were at the top of the table with only two league defeats, the clubs had played between 19 and 21 of 32 regular season games so far. BBL managing director Stefan Holz had previously spoken out in favor of continuing the season and hoped for a large consensus.
At the end of March the league had postponed a final decision, now there was clarity.
BBL game plan
BBL table
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