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Hangin' With ... IMG Media President Ioris Francini

IORIS FRANCINI is president of IMG Media. In his current role, he runs the agency's int'l media sales and acquisitions. His clients and events include the IOC, Giro d'Italia, Euroleague, Major League Soccer and the Int'l Volleyball Federation (FIVB). Francini has worked for IMG since '03 and has been president of IMG Media since '14. IMG's partnership with the Euroleague, signed in November and reportedly worth €872M ($975M), will see the two organizations work together in a joint venture for the next 10 years, with an option for a further 10 years. Euroleague CEO JORDI BERTOMEU in November called it "without a doubt the biggest decision the clubs have taken in Euroleague history after the one they took in June 2000 and that supposed its foundation." Francini spoke to SBD Global about that deal, the league's future and its current conflict with FIBA. He also weighed in on this summer's Rio Olympics.

On how IMG and the Euroleague came up with the new 16-team format and schedule ...
Ioris Francini: They are the experts in understanding all of the implications of calendar changes. But the discussion on the format really came from us, effectively. We thought, "Why don't you reduce?" They were going through similar thought processes. But for them, 16 wasn't necessarily the number. It could have been a different number, it could have been more than 16 from their point of view. From our point of view there was a specific reason why 16 worked, and that is because that number can still enable for a single round-robin, European-wide competition. It was the best way to reset the Euroleague competition. It doesn't mean that it can't increase again going forward, but it just catered really well for everything that we wanted to do on top of that, which is production centralization, game presentation and just intensifying the whole offering. 

On the innovations fans can expect from the Euroleague ...
Francini: What we're trying to do is, we're trying to professionalize further the Euroleague and just make it as avant-garde as possible in both the production and the content distribution. In addition to that, what we want to do is we want to create sensor-driven content. So you call it the Internet of Things, and what we want to do with that is effectively measure both the game and the game data, the athletes' data and therefore measure their movements on the court -- the power, the strength, the energy bursts, the kilowatts, those kinds of things -- and then be able to package and visualize this information, of course having the blessing of the teams and the players. We want to engage with the audience more on-site, and, through sensors that monitor audio and things like that, create real-time stories and things around the timeouts and those moments that create a whole ecosystem that has the audience participating even more with the game. These are the kind of innovations that we want to do, but in terms of commercial, what we want to do is, we want to invest quite a lot on the digital side. ... Another thing is their over-the-top offering called Euroleague.TV, creating a lot more stories and searching deep into the social networks, the chat forums, those kind of things, and bridge a communication with those communities that only once in a while speak to the Euroleague. 

On the Euroleague possibly expanding in the future ...
Francini: Once the industry has appreciated the changes made to the way Euroleague presents itself to the audience, to the brands, to social, to the media, to everyone effectively, then in parallel -- and by the way, it's happening already -- we would start looking at potential franchises or new joiners in very selective, specific areas in Europe where there is a lack of that, where there is a void. I would identify London or Paris, or slightly broader than Europe, somewhere in the Middle East, creating franchises that can be part of this narrative. There is a demand for that because the entry levels are fairly sustainable. When you want to get into sport, you want to get into a platform, if you want to spend $2 billion for the [NBA L.A.] Lakers, sure, great. But maybe you don't want to do that. Maybe you want to go for $50 million or $30 million, that kind of size of investment is an area where a platform such as cycling or European basketball can sort of help you get in. As the platform proves itself, then we can expand. 

On the league's conflict with FIBA ...
Francini: I don't have a clear view as to how the outcome will be. I think FIBA's position is difficult to understand because they had many different conversations, some of which seem to be contradicting others. For example, it is my understanding that they approached all the Euroleague clubs, trying to establish with those clubs the FIBA Champions League. Those clubs decided independently to remain with the current management. So then FIBA went to speak to a second-tier group of clubs, and now is saying to Euroleague, "We don't want to touch your clubs, we'll touch these other clubs." It's not very clear what it is FIBA wants. Hopefully at some point they will have a conversation and they will maybe find a working solution together where FIBA will be sanctioning these competitions, but Eurocup and Euroleague will still be organized and promoted by Euroleague. ... There is still a lot of homework being done on all fronts. I hope they will find a solution because it doesn't really help basketball to have this continued background noise. But I'm not sure when and if this solution will come.

On what he expects will happen at the Olympics in Rio, where concerns over zika and other issues are mounting ...
Francini: I have a lot of friends and clients who are there quite regularly right now. And it is still a concern, infrastructure -- some parts are not finished -- economic discussions over budget have to be covered by either the municipality or the sports ministry or the organizing committee. It is reported that there's still quite some grief there. I think they're cautious, but in the end they think it's going to be fine. I get reminded every time I raise the question, that Athens had its issues; with China, it was impossible to know what would happen, but they knew there was a pretty tight grip there; Sochi was a big question mark. People who have been in it for many, many years, for decades, say that these are certainly problems not to be underestimated, but they are surmountable. That's what I'm being told. My judgment is kind of suspended, frankly. I'll go and see it with my eyes.

Hangin' With runs each Friday in SBD Global.

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