The controversy surrounding the schedule continued to cause a stir ahead of Game 1 of the BBL final series between FC Bayern Munich and ratiopharm Ulm. Here are the proposals made by Ulm, which were ultimately rejected.
There was talk of a possible Game 5 being played on Tuesday, June 24 (the scheduled date is June 26), so that the two youngsters Noa Essengue and Ben Saraf could be in New York for the NBA Draft on Friday night. According to Ulm, Bayern had been open to talks but then backed out. The reason: The SAP Garden is not available on that day, according to an email from the operating company, which is available to the editorial team.
Ulm’s sporting director Thorsten Leibenath doubted this explanation. “Hall availability is irrelevant, I can’t imagine that for the life of me,” said the former coach, but added that Bayern was acting within the rules and that a decision had to be made by the league.
Such a Game 5 would therefore have had to take place in the significantly smaller BMW Park, but Bayern rejected this. Ulm also suggested that Game 3 could be brought forward from Saturday, June 21, to Friday or Thursday. Bayern rejected this as well, as they had already sold over 8,000 tickets. In the meantime, there were also considerations to play on both Saturday and Sunday.
