FIBA events name changes - what's in a name?

By ALAN WALLS

Welcome to the International Basketball Opinion, the only blog specifically dedicated to international basketball news, business and current events.

“What's in a name? That which FIBA calls a competition by any other name would be as recognized?” – Coach Bill Shakespeare, head coach of the London Lords.

During the pandemic many individuals and organizations have taken advantage of the free time to reevaluate their goals, mission and strategies. It is therefore a great opportunity for FIBA to reconsider its event naming and branding strategies.

In 2002, FIBA launched their ONE FAMILY campaign which included renaming the five regional confederations and bringing them under the global FIBA umbrella.

FIBA Europe

FIBA Americas

FIBA Africa

FIBA Asia

FIBA Oceania

For competition purposes Asia and Oceania have since been combined and countries from the two regions complete in “Asia” events.

Simple. Concise. Uniform.

Yet, still 18 years later, the naming of the regional and global events remains literally “all over the map.” Pun intended.

This is a HUGE marketing and branding mistake on the part of FIBA. Though I assume and hope change is on the horizon, maybe this blog post helps get it going, I have neither seen, heard nor read anything to validate that.

NATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Let’s start at the top with the regional and world championships for national teams.

5 events + 4 names = 0 branding and name recognition. And a lot of confusion!

Europe: EuroBasket – Perfect! Renamed in 2005, formerly European Championship for Men. A combination of Europe and Basketball that is truly unique in the world of sports competitions.

Africa: AfroBasket – Great. In line with Europe.

Americas: AmeriCup – Similar but uses Cup in place of Basket. Why?

Asia: Asia Cup – Similar to the Americas but it has a space between Asia and Cup. Why? This name is also used by the Asian Cricket Council and is similar to the Asian Cup of the Asian Football Confederation. This can lead to confusion among fans and organizers.

Is it Asia or Asian? Even FIBA Asia itself was confused naming the 2021 Asia Cup pre-qualifiers in 2018 the Asian (with an N) Cup pre-qualifiers. It was eventually corrected, but only after the official launch of the logo on social media.

EuroBasket is the oldest, most iconic and most recognized FIBA regional championship event name. Therefore, all other regional championships should have similar names under the ONE FAMILY concept. That is how proper marketing and branding is done.

Then we have the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the granddaddy of them all.

Wait, World Cup? That sounds familiar…

The name for the FIBA global championship was changed to Basketball World Cup for the 2014 edition. Up until then it was called the FIBA World Championship. The women’s event was changed to the Women’s Basketball World Cup for the 2018 event, previously named the FIBA World Championship for Women.

This was, without a doubt, an attempt to bring legitimacy to the floundering event by copying the FIFA (football/soccer) World Cup, the world’s most popular sporting championship, by simply slapping the word Basketball in front of World Cup.

I am not sure how that is legally possible, copyright/trademark infringement-wise. Did FIFA not trademark it? If you do, please let me know.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup still remains overshadowed by the non-FIBA Summer Olympic Games basketball tournament. Topic for another blog.

OK, so… before I make my suggestions it is important to establish the following:

“Cup” and “World Cup” are terms long associated with football, especially with national team competitions. The first FIFA World Cup was played in Uruguay in 1930.

Basket. Now, that is unique to basketball and is not associated with any other sport. The EuroBasket has established itself as the most popular FIBA regional event and name.

MY SUGGESTIONS

FIBA EuroBasket – Same.

FIBA AfroBasket – Same.

FIBA AmeriBasket – New. Makes total sense.

FIBA AsiaBasket – New. Ditto.

And... drumroll please...

FIBA WorldBasket! FIBA WorldBasket. Repeat it 10 times. It has a nice ring to it, no?

For the women’s competitions just add the word Women’s.

FIBA Women’s WorldBasket. It rolls right off your tongue.

It makes perfect sense, right? They are all tied together in a Microsoft kind-of-way (though the “s” is lowercase) and they all incorporate the word Basket as only the sport of basketball can.

I already have the slogan for the 2023 event: FIBA WorldBasket 2023; it’s our name, it’s our game!

FIBA, I am giving you one week from today to copyright and trademark these new names before I do.

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS

Now let’s look at the top-tier regional club (professional team) competitions where it is even more of an alphabet soup.

MEN

Europe: EuroLeague – The top European club competition. Owned and run by the Euroleague Basketball Company since 2000 when the eight original teams split from FIBA. FIBA previously ran the league since 1958. It changed the name to EuroLeague in 1996, but NEVER trademarked it! When the clubs split and formed the EBC they just took the name with them!

That’s right… FIBA did not trademark the name EuroLeague.

Europe: Basketball Champions League (BCL) – FIBA’s answer to the EuroLeague. Launched in 2016. Merit-based competition. 50/50 partnership with the participating leagues and teams.

Americas: Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) – Launched in 2019. In line with the BCL of Europe. Merit-based. Replaced the FIBA Liga de las Américas.

Africa: Basketball Africa League (BAL) – Not in line with the BLC/BCLA. Partnership between the NBA & FIBA. Merit-based. 12 teams from throughout the continent. Was to tip off in March 2020 (coronavirus). MORE on this name in my next blog.

Asia: FIBA Asia Champions Cup – Completely different name. Six-day, eight-team annual tournament, not a league.

WOMEN

Europe: EuroLeague Women – Run by FIBA! EBC was not interested in running a women’s league, I guess.

Africa: FIBA Africa Women’s Champions Cup – Nine-day annual tournament with eight to ten teams. Will there be a WBAL in the future?

No such leagues or tournaments for Asia and the Americas.

Did you get all that? Take a mental break if you need one.

Now, I am not a fan of again, just copying football and placing Basketball in front of Champions League. The term “Champions League,” as in the UEFA Champions League, has been singularly associated with club football since 1992. FIBA needs to be original and separate itself from FIFA and football, not imitate it.

Plus, it is not a true “champions” league (neither is the football competition, but that is for FIFA to worry about). A true champions league would only have the one champion from each participating country, whereas the FIBA BCL and BCLA have multiple teams from the same countries competing, in some cases as many as FOUR.

Basketball Champions League is a total misnomer.

MY SUGGESTIONS

FIBA EuroClub Championships

FIBA AmeriClub Championships

FIBA AfroClub Championships

FIBA AsiaClub Championships

Or

FIBA EuroClub League

FIBA AmeriClub League

FIBA AfroClub League

FIBA AsiaClub League

And finally, if you must use the term Cup for these club level competitions:

FIBA EuroClub Cup

FIBA AmeriClub Cup

FIBA AfroClub Cup

FIBA AsiaClub Cup

Again, for the women’s competitions just add Women’s before.

Simple. Unified. And well branded!

I know, not as hip and sexy as EuroLeague, but unfortunately that is already taken. However, just for fun, let’s look at what could have been:

EuroLeague

AmeriLeague

AfroLeague

AsiaLeague

“For never was a story of more woe. Than this of FIBA and the EuroLeague.”

-------------

Author Alan Walls is an American international basketball coach and administrator with over 25 years of experience on the youth, high school, NCAA, professional and national team levels in 16 countries and on five continents.  Walls has worked with the national federations of Turkey, Romania, Palestine, Mongolia, Kenya and El Salvador as well as coached or conducted camps and clinics throughout the United States – including his native Hawai’i – Mexico, Argentina, China, Hong Kong and Israel. Walls is the founder and General-Secretary of the United Nations of Basketball (2020 launch).