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After Cibona's basketball players failed to travel to Podgorica for their clash with Budućnost, it became clear that postponing the start of the competition was inevitable. This has now been confirmed by the ABA League management, who issued a statement on Thursday evening.
A meeting of the ABA League was held, and with 11 votes in favor and one abstention, the decision was made to postpone the start of both the ABA League and the Second ABA League. The public will be informed of the next steps, the statement read.
Thus, the first round of the regional competition will be delayed, and it remains to be seen when and under what conditions it will commence.
As a reminder, the reason for the postponement stems from disagreements with the referees, who demanded significant improvements to their financial and legal status, a request the ABA League management did not heed.
A group of 63 current referees sought an increase in gross fees up to 1,200 euros per regular season game and up to 2,000 euros for the final, seasonal bonuses up to 5,000 euros, full health insurance, and compensation for injuries.
The ABA League administration described these demands as blackmail and proposed that a decision on the matter be made later, with the season starting under the old conditions.
When the referees rejected this, the league abandoned its list of proposed officials and hastily assembled new referees from across Europe through an open call. However, some of these newly recruited referees soon began to withdraw from participating in the ABA League.
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