Jurbarkos “Jurbarko-Kario” basketball club, 2023-2024 participated in the LKL Board meeting as guests. Povilas Valaitis, the team leader and head coach of the National Basketball League Championship winner, who presented the club’s sporting, administrative, financial and infrastructure opportunities to competitively participate in the “Betsafe-LKL” championship.
After hearing information about the club, the LKL Board allowed the Jurbarkas city team to participate in the licensing procedures of LKL clubs.
Champions of the National Basketball League until May 10. The Lithuanian Basketball League had to submit the necessary documents, according to which it would be possible to assess the club’s compliance with the LKL club licensing criteria and to consider the issue of the 2024-2025 season. “Betsafe-LKL” championship participant license granting.
When the deadline arrived and the leaders of the Jurbarko-Karios club officially informed the Lithuanian Basketball League that the team was not considering the possibility of playing the Betsafe-LKL home games outside the city of Jurbarkos, it became clear that in the short time left before the start of the next season’s championship, Jurbarkos it is impossible to reconstruct the arena according to the standards set for LKL club arenas.
“First of all, on behalf of the entire club organization, I want to thank the LKL organization for the ongoing dialogue and consultations, with the help of which we can objectively assess where we are.
Over the past few weeks, we have had many meetings with city government representatives, existing and potential sponsors, and Jurbarkas community members. We discussed the current situation, the opportunities that have arisen and the resulting challenges. We are grateful to everyone who in one way or another got involved in this discussion and contributed to the decision-making”, said Povilas Valaitis, Jurbarkas team leader and head coach.
“Currently, the club does not have the ability to prepare and implement the requirements for the LKL club. There is too little time to properly prepare the infrastructure, no matter how flexible we try to organize it.
For consideration, we have received offers to temporarily play in other cities, where the hall and infrastructure meet the requirements of the Lithuanian Basketball League, but we do not even consider such options, because the “Jurbarka-Karios” team is first and foremost a club of the city of Jurbarka, where the city of Jurbarka itself and the people of Jurbarka are one of the most important members of the club. components.
We will set ourselves goals to continue growing and strengthening as an organization in the NKL league. We want to continue to represent the Jurbarka region on the Lithuanian basketball map at the highest possible level and to make the people of Jurbarka happy with victories.
As for Jurbark’s chances of playing in the LKL premiership in the future, it can be answered with a famous saying: “a bad soldier who doesn’t want to become a general”.
We will strive to have an opportunity to return to the dialogue with the LKL organization in the future regarding the possibility of opening the doors of this league. And if that opportunity arises again in the future, we hope that we will be properly prepared for it,” said the team leader.
“I am happy that every year the champions of the National League or the clubs, according to the decision of the LKF conference, which win the right to participate in the higher league competitions, decide to apply to participate in the Betsafe-LKL championship.
The opportunity for NKL champions to join the participants of the “Betsafe-LKL” championship is one of the reasons for municipalities to renew or improve the sports infrastructure in the region or city.
We thank the “Jurbarko-Kario” club for their courage, ambitions and efforts to objectively assess their opportunities in 2024-2025. to compete in the “Betsafe-LKL” championship during the season.
We believe that the municipality of Jurbarkas, together with the proactive leaders of the “Jurbarkas-Karios” club and businessmen of the district, will continue to nurture and strive to realize the dream of playing in the Lithuanian basketball league.
