With Or Without Olympiakos

By: Chris Paraskevas | October 22nd, 2008

In cooperation with Goal.com:

Greek Super League chief Konstantinos Piladakis has confirmed that the centralization of television rights for Greek domestic football is set to go ahead without champions Olympiakos.

Speaking at an official press conference and quoted by Sport 24 the president of the recently formed domestic body spoke about the future of the competition.

“We didn’t create the Super League so that it would have an expiry date but to take football forward.” Pilakidis said.

Under the new plan, broadcasters NOVA and ALPHA will cover the television coverage of the domestic competition.

“It was a unanimous decision.

“It is important to improve the broadcasting quality of matches.”

Super League club Skoda Xanthi will not yet be covered by the proposed deal however, with the governing body allowing them to honour their contract with government channel ERT.

Speaking about the decision of champions Olympiakos to exclude themselves from the league-wide deal, Pilakidis insisted that there was no ill-feeling between the club and the league’s governing body.

“No sense of revanchism exists.” He said.

“Not all of Olympiakos’ games will be covered; it was right by our statutes that we chose this path.”

The conference compliments an official statement released by the chairman on the Greek Super League’s official website that says: “The unanimous decision for the central management of television rights is a great success.

“It is retained for the progress of Greek professional football and for the entire structure of football, in conjuction with the UEFA Licensing program.”

Money, Money, Money

At the heart of the reforms to television rights is revenue distribution, with clubs set to be rewarded financially according to their final position on the Greek Super League table.

Revenue will otherwise be distributed equally between clubs, as well as being determined by their commercial value.

The valuation of clubs will be according to their finishing position in the league last season, not including the play-offs for European places.

According to such an evaluation and based on their positions on the top-flight table last season, the governing body have distributed revenue for television rights as follows:

Panathinaikos: 6,389,262 Euros
AEK Athens: 5,570,813
Aris: 3,999,954
PAOK: 3,767,196
Panionios: 2,900,837
Larissa: 2,900,837
Asteras Tripolis: 2,876,957
Skoda Xanthi: 2,685,912
Iraklis: 2,662,032
OFI: 2,590,389
Levadiakos: 2,524,662
Ergotelis: 2,453,020
Panthrakikos: 2,226,043
Thrasyvoulos: 2,226,043
Panserraikos: 2,226,043