Panathinaikos, one of the oldest and most successful Greek soccer clubs, has fallen behind on payments for their electricity bills at the Olympic Stadium which the club rents from the state.
In an open letter to the Greek Super League, Hellenic Football Federation and television broadcaster Nova, the stadium’s management team head Peter Galaktopoulos said the club had not met the minimum financial obligations.
Galaktopoulos suggested the club play during daylight hours so that it would not be charged the cost of electricity for
lighting.
However, the proposal is unlikely to be adopted as the majority of the club’s home games are scheduled for prime television evening slots as part of an agreement with Nova.
“It is true that there are some outstanding amounts which need to be taken care of and we are in continued discussions with the Olympic stadium management about that and we expect it to be solved by the end of the year,ยป a Panathinaikos spokesman said.
“The truth is that we have been involved in negotiating a new contract with the Olympic stadium for some time now and
these discussions are ongoing. It is also well known that we are investigating returning to our own (Apostolos Nikolaidis) stadium closer to the city center in the new year and this is also a topic which is still open.”
Panathinaikos continues to struggle financially despite entering into a new era of fan ownership in the close season and the board has requested a capital injection of 15 million euros from shareholders and investors.
[Reuters]