Ryszard Krauze steps down as CEO of Prokom

Ryszard Krauze, the founder, owner, and CEO of Asseco Prokom Gdynia (Poland, TBL) has stepped down from all of those positions, with the team now falling into the ownership of sponsor Asseco. The departure of Krauze will bring to an end his history with Prokom after he became owner of the club in 1998. During his tenure, Prokom won 9 consecutive Polish championships between 2004 and 2012, and became a regular name in the Euroleague competition.

Ryszard Krauze was typically a backseat owner, but in January of this year he replaced Przemyslaw Seczkowski as CEO of the club. Prokom Gdynia has gone through tough financial times of late, and it is thought that krauze became CEO in a bid to strike a deal to offload the team and thus ensure its future. In fact the situation had reached the point where the Polish Association of Basketball was uncertain if the team could continue until the end of the current season.

The scale of the financial mire has become more evident in recent weeks with news that internal club expenses such as wages have been paid by the sponsor Asseco. This has been happening this season, and may have been before, so it stands to reason that the team now falls under the ownership of the technology company.

However, Prokom Gdynia is still not out of the woods yet, despite the departure of Ryszard Krauze and the new ownership of Asseco. While the company intends to offer financial security for the club, it seems that it intends to run Prokom as a smaller operation as it was before, with funding cuts almost inevitable. Rumours are already solidifying around the fact that Asseco intends to part ways with the best players at Prokom Gdynia, and that the yearly budget for the team will be 2 million Polish Zloty (around $650,000).

We expect further information in the coming days and weeks, and also the full unveiling of the next CEO to guide the team into a new future.