Football: ‘Pay bills or play with lights out’

ATHENS: Athens Olympic Stadium threatened to turn the lights out on Greek Super League club Panathinaikos due to unpaid bills. Stadium president Petros Galaktopoulos has sent letters to the club, the Super League and the Greek football federation requesting that Panathinaikos stop playing night matches in order to save on the team's mounting unpaid electricity bills. "Due to financial difficulties, Panathinaikos has not met the minimum financial obligations towards the stadium,” said Galaktopoulos. "For this reason, please consider the matches to take place in the midday hours so that Panathinaikos not be charged for extra electricity, thus simultaneously increasing the amount of the arrears to the stadium." The club has announced that it will be moving back to its old stadium in downtown Athens in January in order to stop the high rental cost of the Athens Olympic Stadium.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2012.