Panathinaikos hit hard by Coronavirus financially

The coronavirus pandemic is set to have a significant financial impact on Panathinaikos.

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The coronavirus pandemic, which is currently plaguing the world, will impact sports and many sporting clubs. It is no different in Greek football, and Panathinaikos will be among the hardest hit. The lack of revenue in the new year has hurt the club.

The virus that has affected and changed our daily lives has also hurt the sporting front. According to the paper ‘Prasini,’ Panathinaikos have calculated that a dramatic decline in revenue is expected for this current season and next season. 

The areas of revenue for a football club can be broken down into four categories: television contract, ticket sales, sponsorships, and player sales.

As far as the television contract is concerned for next season, the Greens look set to remain with Novasports for a second successive season since Olympiacos owner, Vangelis Marinakis, will not be taking over the company. However, it remains unlikely this deal will reach this season in terms of price. Should the proposal from Novasports be deemed too low, then the club may pursue a similar model undertaken by PAOK.

The area of ticket sales will hurt the club the most. With every passing weekend, fans cannot attend matches since the Super League is on-hold (and even if it resumes, games could well be played behind closed doors). This means the Trifylli will significantly lose out on ticket sales. This is expected to show by the end of the first quarter of the new year as fans cannot attend.

The virus has also affected many businesses. In difficult times such as these, jobs are on the line and often cut in a bid to save money. Panathinaikos’ sponsors will undoubtedly be feeling the pinch at the moment and may look to cut ties with the club or reduce the dollar amount of their sponsorship (this could impact most clubs in Greece).

Panathinaikos were also hoping to overturn the European suspension placed by UEFA in 2018 in a bid to be in a stronger financial position and lure better quality players to the club. This now appears difficult with everything going on. Instead, the club could turn to sell players to boost revenue lost in other areas. However, the impact of the virus on the transfer market remains unknown, as clubs may not be able to spend as much as they usually would.

Xavi Roca will look to offload out of favour players in a bid to keep the team’s cohesion strong. A lot of the summer signings failed, and up to seven out of the nine acquired could leave at season’s end. Only Bart Schenkeveld, Ghayas Zahid, and Juan Jose Pereas have impressed, and the latter is not even considered as a starting option. It will be challenging to keep Zahid as his parent club APOEL will be asking for 1.6 million EUR. The likes of Yohan Mollo, Uffe Bech, Dimitris Kolovos, Joao Nunes, Fausto Tienza, and Cristian Konan failed to deliver.

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