After to win the Eurobasket crown on Sunday, there can be no doubt that the country is enjoying its greatest-ever era of . Just two years after winning the and one year on from Germany’s at the Paris Olympics, the glory days continued as , and Maodo Lo helped Germany take the EuroBasket.
While the likes of Wagner and Schröder play in the NBA, domestic basketball in Germany has gone from strength to strength in recent years. The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) has become one of the most stable and exciting domestic leagues on the continent, and German teams are slowly establishing themselves in European competitions too.
But there are concerns that four years after the NIL (Name Image Likeness) provision was introduced in US colleges, the landscape is rapidly changing for European basketball teams.
The impact of NIL on European basketball
After a long-standing resistance to allowing student athletes to profit from their own image, the damn was broken in 2021 when NIL was introduced. The policy allows US college athletes to earn money through sponsorships, endorsements, social media without affecting their status as an amateur.
Amateurism is no longer really a concept in US college sports though, after the House vs. NCAA settlement in June of this year that allows colleges to directly pay their athletes. And the money on offer at many of the top sports colleges in the is, in a basketball context, akin to the salaries in the EuroLeague, the continent’s top club competition. This is changing the entire structure of basketball development across Europe and poses serious challenges for the future of German basketball.
The BBL has the 6+6 regulation, which requires at least six German players to be on the 12-man roster. Robert Wintermantel is head of sports and finance for the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). The former player was instrumental in implementing the rule and remains a staunch supporter of it even in the face of a changing landscape.
“Of course, a lot of talent is leaving right now, and this will be a transitional phase. Many of them will come back again,” Wintermantel told DW. “I am definitely in favor of keeping the rule as it is.”
Hannes Steinbach is a great example. Just seven months after making his Bundesliga debut for the Würzburg Baskets, the 19-year-old announced he was following in the footsteps of Detlef Schrempf and opting to play for Washington University. One of the country’s most promising players will not be the face of the new Bundesliga season but rather will be honing his craft on the other side of the world.
Wintermantel recognizes that talent leaving to the US presents a positive opportunity for young players to play, study and learn more of the American basketball mentality.
“I think these are all very positive things for the individual player, and as a league, we shouldn’t be selfish and try to put obstacles in their way but simply make sure that the clubs that train these players so excellently are duly compensated for it. That’s the big issue we have,” Wintermantel said.
FIBA, basketball’s global governing body is reportedly seeking to sit down with the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) to try to reach a deal, but whether that is possible and what this might looks like remains unclear.
“We need compensation for this training, because we are world and European champions. These players are excellently trained, the clubs have done a lot for them, and the league has brought in standards that helped a lot,” Wintermantel said.
“There is pressure to act, and I believe there is so much money in the system that an agreement must be found now.”
Part of the issue is; where would the compensation come from? There are over 360 division one colleges playing in 31 conferences. There isn’t one governing body to negotiate directly with.
Domestic basketball in danger?
Wintermantel has called the development of the sport “incredible,” saying there has been steady growth in the BBL for decades. While he admits it’s not ideal for the league to lose a talent like Steinbach, it’s not going to change the solid foundation Germany has made for itself.
“I believe we have a very good time ahead of us, and whether that means winning the world or European Championship titles is not what matters. What matters to us is that we have gone from being the whipping boys of basketball, so to speak, to becoming a basketball nation that is taken very seriously,” he said.
“And that won’t change in the next 10 years either. It will only increase, not in terms of titles, but in terms of perception and the quality of our players.”
Wintermantel hopes the current boom in German basketball will lead to increased media coverage, which in turn would lead to more sponsorships – and more money. Then the BBL would be able to offer more to either keep players at home a bit longer or bring them back sooner.
“Basketball deserves it,” he said.
Edited by: Chuck Penfold
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