Maccabi Tel Aviv Dominated Israeli Sports Broadcasting for Years

For many years, Thursday evenings on Israel's Channel 1 were exclusively dedicated to broadcasting Maccabi Tel Aviv's European basketball games, reaching millions of viewers. Veteran broadcaster Uri Levi, who covered many of these games, recently spoke about the significant influence the club wielded within the state broadcasting authority, which effectively prevented other Israeli teams from gaining mainstream media attention.

"Maccabi Tel Aviv was the only thing the broadcasting authority agreed to broadcast," Levi stated on the "Shidur Chozre" podcast. He attributed this to a confluence of factors, including Alex Giladi's early support for Maccabi Tel Aviv, creating a mutually beneficial relationship where broadcasting Maccabi's games led to high viewership and revenue.

Levi explained that other teams, such as Hapoel Tel Aviv or any other Israeli club, were "simply thrown out" of this broadcast cycle. It was explicitly stated that only Maccabi Tel Aviv would be covered, with no interest in other teams. This exclusivity, Levi noted, came at a significant financial cost to the broadcasting authority.

Later, Yoash Alroey reportedly changed this exclusive trend. Levi suggested that the broadcasting authority invested heavily in Maccabi Tel Aviv for an extended period and should have questioned this policy, especially at the expense of other clubs. He recalled that the preference for Maccabi's yellow colors was so strong that mentioning Hapoel Tel Aviv would elicit shouts of protest.