It’s got the fans. It’s got the personalities. Then there are the stakes. Few rivalries in basketball can compare to that of Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. Yet, is Euroleague doing enough to build on its most marketable rivalry?
The rivalry that makes the rest of Euroleague come to a standstill is renewed on Friday. Basketball in Europe, and really anywhere outside North America, just doesn’t get bigger than meetings of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. The natural essence of the animosity between fan bases is part of the magic that makes it work. There’s more to it than that, well more there’s more built on top of those foundations.
In an era where discussions of what the NBA might do in Europe with either FIBA or Euroleague, or both, abound, the biggest show on the continent stands alone.
A Rivalry Bigger Than the Game
As Aris Barkas told me in our new documentary Enemies (shameless plug, watch it below), Panathinaikos and Olympiacos fans would go wild for a chess or League of Legends clash between the two. It doesn’t just take basketball for this to work.
Naturally, of course, the focus from the wider world has increasingly focused on this sport. The Euroleague successes of both since the 1990s have helped. There’s a combination of factors at work here. It’s a sport where Greek clubs are amongst the elite in Europe, while also being a big sport in terms of wider global attention.
Football is and always will be king on this continent. Both clubs have strong football support. The Greek rivals can’t compete at the very top in that. While Olympiacos FC won the Europa Conference League last season, that was the first major European trophy ever won by a Greek football club.
In basketball, they are not only amongst the elite but regularly at the very top. The fan base has evolved in turn. No longer are they just football fans who root for the Reds or Greens. They are as much basketball fans as anything else.
The EuroLeague’s Crown Jewel Fixture
Well this is where things get a little bit controversial. I’ll remind y’all that this is about the marketability of the rivalry. We’ll address Belgrade first. Partizan and Crvena Zvezda fans, I love y’all. When we’re looking at the bowls of porridge, you’re the bowl that’s too hot. Great rivalry but still volatile in marketability. The consistency at a pan-European level is more volatile as is the capacity to compete at the top end financially.
El Clasico, Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona is the bowl that is too cold. Yes, it’s a great rivalry but it is wholly overshadowed by the football rivalry. Added to that is the Spanish media consumer being less likely than most to consume non-local language content. That may seem small but when the growth is so focused internally, it makes it harder to build the same interest across borders as
Panathinaikos and Olympiacos have the Goldilocks effect. They have the fire and passion needed, like Belgrade. This rivalry isn’t overshadowed by the football equivalent, unlike Madrid. Finally there’s the matter that both clubs have a financial base now where they can be sustainably profitable. We’ll get back to that but it is important for developing wider marketability.
Watch Enemies, our documentary on the hate, history, and hoops between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos
What EuroLeague Gets Right—and Wrong—About Marketing It
The right parts are easy to point out. The game is in primetime across the continent. That, naturally, is influenced by local broadcast needs but it’s still a plus. The whole production is polished and professional. It is given the sense of a big event.
It’s really the boring stuff that it gets wrong. Euroleague Basketball, as an entity, is improving on the boring stuff but more needs to be done. Essentially, in any business, making the fun final output work relies on investing in lots of things the casual consumer doesn’t consciously care about.
This involves more money into its communications and marketing departments. More staff, more initiatives, more spend as a whole. The individual clubs, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, realised the need to do that and it has paid off. Euroleague is improving here but it has to keep pushing.
Visibly working on it
The Euroleague really needs to realise that it’s not the UEFA Champions League. I don’t mean in terms of scale but in terms of flavour. Euroleague’s strength is in its rawness and the variety that comes with it.
The Rivalries documentary is a good example of the rights and wrongs put together. On the one hand it was a polished production. Yet at the same time it was all too safe. The idea was clearly for a wider audience, that’s wonderful. The problem was that it was so safe that it missed the core of what makes the rivalry so enticing.
It’s ok to be a little hypocritical when selling an entertainment product, which is what basketball is. You want people to feel safe at games so they spend more, obviously. The little bit of danger however is what gets the hook initially. The worst that comes of it? You get more columnists writing about you playing both sides of the story, getting more people talking about your product.
BallinEurope has a book, a real life actual book called I Like it Loud, and you can buy it on Amazon now. It’s here as a book and here in Kindle form.
The Global Appeal of Greek Basketball’s Biggest War
The NBA has realised something really across its broader marketing and content. Self-deprecation drips through its own productions, whether that’s by teams or the NBA itself. That doesn’t mean it can’t be serious. It just knows that it shouldn’t sound like it’s giving a presentation to investors 24/7.
It took a while for Olympiacos and Panathinaikos to realise that they could translate their flavours into something regular. Again, when it’s time to be serious they really are. More often than not, they lean into excitement and passion. It’s what their fans are about and they build on that. This, in turn, gets more of us on the outside wanting to be a part of all this extraordinary basketball experience.
For Euroleague, this is something to build on. The unique nature of each rivalry, like Belgrade, Spain, Italy, and so on is what shapes them. There is no blanket flavour for Euroleague. That is its very essence. You’re inviting basketball fans of all levels to embrace something that is real to the people on the ground. That is, to use a dreadful but relevant marketing term, relatable.
The Future: What’s Next for the Rivalry?
As I mentioned earlier, both Panathinaikos and Olympiacos are in new territory financially. The history of basketball on this continent, or really sport as a whole, is one dependent on the largesse of benefactors.
Euroleague has reached a stage where spending isn’t just a case of burning money. Real investments made by the Greek clubs have enabled them to be in cash-positive positions that can be developed. From a medium-term, let alone short-term, standpoint that’s extraordinary.
These are new times for the rivalry. The history built it along with the fire and fury of the fans. Those foundations however are the sturdiest they have ever been. There’s no obvious time limit on a team’s time at the top of European basketball. Financial sustainability has made that a reality. It makes for extraordinary new territory for the sport.
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