The 2023 EuroLeague Final Four has been in the books for almost a week now, with Hedgeout.net and Yiannis Bouranis travelling to Kaunas, Lithuania to cover all the action.
It was a spectacular event that took place in a basket city like Kaunas, with Real Madrid standing tall in the battle with Olympiacos and claiming the championship (78-79).
The event was highlighted by Sergio Llull’s game winner with 3.2 seconds to go and the presence of 7K Olympiacos fans at Zalgirio Arena, who travelled from Athens by any means possible (airplane, car etc) to Kaunas to support their favorite team.
As Zalgiris GM Paulius Motiejunas noted, it was a profitable event for the cty of Kaunas and Lithuania, providing significant income, while it made the city more famous among the people who came to watch the event.
On the other hand, there were some issues that made things difficult for the fans and all those that travelled to Kaunas for the 2023 EuroLeague Final Four. Just like in the 2019 EuroLeague Final Four at Vitoria-Gasteiz, these issues were accommodation (not enough hotels and apartments in Kaunas, so people had to stay in Vilnius or Alitus, which were not close to Kaunas) and flights (there were no direct flights to Kaunas, omly very expensive charter ones, so people had to fly to Vilnius, Riga or Warsaw and then move to Kaunas by bus, train or car).
Next year, the EuroLeague Final Four returns to the capital city of Germany, Berlin (May 24-26, 2024), for the first time in eight years (2016) and third over the last 15 years (2009, 2016, 2024).
Here is our At The Buzzer podcast where I summarize what I saw in Kaunas and the Zalgirio Arena during the 2023 EuroLeague Final Four. Enjoy!
