ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF BASKETBALL LEADING ORGANIZATIONS IN EUROPE

The development of basketball in Europe today, as well as other popular sports, is affected by internal organizational processes (occurring within its leading organizations) and external factors (changes in the world economics and politics, etc.), which are not always conducive. At the same time, there is significant sponsorship of International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and Union des Ligues Europeennes de Basket-Ball (ULEB) by various corporations and firms. This allows to maintain the economic potential of basketball development, and therefore – the sport component at the appropriate level. Purpose: to identify the features of economic activity of leading basketball organizations in Europe. There were mostly used materials of the Internet and separate educational, methodical and scientific works. Research methods: data analysis and generalization; theoretical interpretation and explanation; analysis of documentary materials. European basketball is developed under the patronage of two leading organizations – FIBA and ULEB. The first one is focused on the international sports market, namely seeks to disseminate and promote the sport, and the second one is focused on the commercial component and the development of basketball on a professional basis. There is opposition and inconsistency in the formation of competition calendars, which provokes a significant number of conflict situations. ULEB has slightly better financial resources and holds high-level competitions under its patronage, while FIBA to some extent lags behind in these aspects. Competitions under its patronage have a lower rating and therefore lower popularity among talented basketball players. Expensive contracts with sponsoring organizations today help to maintain the economic potential of both organizations. ULEB has active agreements with Turkish Airlines, Integrated Medical Group, DenizBank, WKT. Instead, FIBA works with Perform, Tencent, Aeroflot, Ganten, Molten and Wilson, Tissot, Wanda Group and TCL. In addition, the last one enjoys the financial support of the International Olympic Committee. The signed contracts are mostly for ceparate competitions, but the cooperation involves millions dollars and in most cases, the contracts are concluded for several seasons in advance. Therefore, despite the rather difficult economic conditions, both organizations still maintain their economic potential at the appropriate level.