Panathinaikos prepare to sue the Greek government over OAKA transfer / News - Basketnews.com

Panathinaikos were initially promised full commercial use of the entire OAKA complex but the law has since been changed. The club now accuses the Greek government of blackmail and will file a lawsuit in the upcoming days, the team announced.

Credit: Panathinaikos BC Credit Panathinaikos BC

Ever since Panathinaikos Athens have been playing in OAKA (1995), the club has been trying to take control of the arena to utilize it commercially. The team is facing hurdles once again and is now going on the offensive.

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The two biggest arenas in Greece - OAKA and the Peace and Friendship Stadium - are controlled by and belong to the Greek government. Last May, a law was passed that allowed Panathinaikos to obtain ownership of the OAKA arena and fully control it commercially.

Led by the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greece Ministry of Sports granted PAO exclusive control of the OAKA arena for the upcoming 49 years back in the last spring.

However, the law has since been changed, removing the parking lots from the equation which would significantly decrease the revenue the club gets for each event at the arena.

"You couldn't have found a more ridiculous way to back out of the arena case. An arena without parking space? You know that it is the only one that can bring some revenue and make the agreement somewhat advantageous for the club and you say let's change the law that we made, take it back so that they say no and use it as we want," Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos wrote on his Instagram two weeks ago.

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Panathinaikos are now accusing the government of blackmail.

"After our meetings, it is now clear that the long-term delay in the signing of the contract is not due to any important reason but to the arrogance of a man joining the anti-Panathinaikos strategy of a red-and-white Government," Panathinaikos write in their statement.

The man in question is the Deputy Minister of Sports Lefteris Avgenakis. "This particular man proceeded to the next step, reaching the point of officially blackmailing Panathinaikos," the club says.

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Panathinaikos are currently renting OAKA each season. The initial agreement between the club and the government was that the club would get 70% of commercial uses and general revenues, and 100% of tickets. Plus, they'd save the rent money which had been between €500,000 and €1 million.

According to the Greens' announcement, the plan was to grant PAO full control of all the areas inside the arena.

"This plan would bring in a considerable amount of revenue, mainly from a large multi-year sponsorship that had been agreed with a foreign company and which, apparently, with all the regressions made by the government, did not proceed any further," the release continues.

Panathinaikos argue that they now have to bear the consequences of this "huge loss of revenue" which has created a big financial hole.

"We are not used to being blackmailed and that is why we have faith in Greek justice [system]. Our legal department is already preparing and will file a lawsuit against the Greek government within the next few days," Panathinaikos pointed out.

"Unfortunately, we thought that, until recently, we had been discussing with a reliable party, but it turned out that we are dealing with common blackmailers and certainly enemies of Panathinaikos.

In the minds of Panathinaikos' fans, the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis will go down as the one that fell back on its pre-election commitment that all club's sections would be hosted in Votanikos.

That same government will also go down as the one that passed a law for OAKA's concession to Panathinaikos for 49 years, and backed down again," the announcement concludes.

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