Giannakopoulos to sell Panathinaikos for 25 million
Dimitris Giannakopoulos has revealed that he will sell Panathinaikos for 25 million euros, expressing his desire for the organisation to leave the EuroLeague in favour of the Basketball Champions League.
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The end of an era has arrived. During his planned press-conference on Tuesday afternoon, Giannakopoulos formally announced that he will sell Panathinaikos for 25 million, in turn leaving the club completely: ““From this moment, Panathinaikos is for sale for 25 million, like I wrongly committed last year,” revealed the fiery 45-year-old. “We hadn’t taken into account the value of this brand. According to estimates, the value of the commercial brand alone reaches 75 million euros. I’m not changing a single word, though. 25 million.”
“Until a buyer is found, the basketball club will function without my slightest involvement, with Manos Papadopoulos and Takis Triantopoulos running the organisation,” continued Giannakopoulos. “So far, I have spent my entire life with Panathinaikos, this is difficult for me and it’s an emotional day. However, I am still Panathinaikos, and I will go to the stadium. Panathinaikos will continue to exist. I hope that the next buyer can make the club more profitable. Since my family took over the club in 1987, we have spent over 450 million on Panathinaikos.”
Giannakopoulos subsequently responded to questions about Panathinaikos’ future in the EuroLeague, ripping into the competition and its owner, Jordi Bertomeu: “EuroLeague has reached rock bottom with Bertomeu the only man responsible. We all understand this, it’s not something that only the bad boy Panathinaikos says. But who will speak up? Clubs which live off state money and take loans? Or those who take money from football budgets? Financial Fair Play, Jordi says and wags his finger. It’s something to laugh at. EuroLeague is a black box. Teams don’t know what will happen with their money. They learn their revenues 15 days before the launch of the season without any information. In 2002, we threatened to not play in the final in Bologna because Bertomeu wasn’t telling us the sums. Since 2009, everyone has been talking about the revenues of the competition. But we suffered more than anyone else in fines and dreadful performances from referees. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos and Olympiacos keep the EuroLeague going, with half of their television rights money going to the organisation.
“Bertomeu had said that Panathinaikos will stay in Euroleague. He is trembling in fear. You understand what it means to have a EuroLeague without Panathinaikos. I hope that the people who will run the club will prove Bertomeu wrong, with the abomination that is called EuroLeague consequently falling apart.”
Panathinaikos must pay the EuroLeague 10 million if they want to leave the tournament before their contract expires in 2026.
Furthermore, Giannakopoulos confirmed his desire for Panathinaikos to join the Basketball Champions League, a tournament which is organised by FIBA: “I see that FIBA works with a plan. In the last couple of years, they have made some joint ventures with the NBA, Oceania and Asia. Watching their development, and the money they intend to invest and their basketball proposals, I believe that very soon they will be the sole powerful competition in Europe. I hope that the decision will be to go to FIBA.”
The controversial businessman also gave a mention to the 2019/2020 campaign which prematurely ended as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis: “We started with an unpleasant surprise, with Rick Pitino leaving in the summer. After that, Argyris Pedoulakis decided to depart during the season, as he didn’t want to create a problem. The fans weren’t ready to give him a fair chance. Sadly, the COVID-19 situation put an end to our cooperation with Pitino, we were in the EuroLeague playoff zone and were ready to win the championship.”
Panathinaikos were in sixth position of the EuroLeague regular season when the campaign ended. The Athenians were leading the Basket League standings before the domestic championship was also cancelled.
