Basketball club owners end lockout

Decision will allow Greek league to begin on October 26, but TV contract is still up in the air

ESAKE chief Papakaliatis (l) talking to club owners at yesterday’s meeting.

Greece’s association of professional basketball clubs, ESAKE, yesterday voted in favor of dropping threats to stall competition over a series of disputes with the government, for its role in preparing a draft sports bill, and EOK, the sport’s national federation, which has sided with the government.

Of the association’s 14-member board of club presidents, seven voted in favor of withdrawing their action and four voted against. One club, Maroussi, was not entitled to cast its vote, because its president, Aris Vovos, was absent.

ESAKE’s declaration of in-house unity followed a decision a day earlier by the association and EOK to resolve their differences. The timing was not surprising. The national basketball league is currently without a broadcasting deal but negotiations have begun with state-run television, ET. ESAKE and EOK obviously believe that a unified approach in their current search for a broadcasting rights deal would serve them better.

Despite Greece’s commanding presence in European club-level basketball — Panathinaikos was crowned European champion for the third time last season — Greek clubs have been plagued by financial woes recently, mostly because of declining television ratings and poor attendance figures at games.

Prior to the reconciliatory moves of the past two days, ESAKE was at odds with EOK over a draft sports bill aimed at increasing the administrative and financial transparency of Greek clubs. One of the draft bill’s clauses stipulated letters of credit from the national league’s 14 clubs worth the full amount of their respective annual budgets as a safeguard of their financial stability. Following pressure exerted by ESAKE, the government has promised to reduce this figure to 10 percent.

ESAKE’s president, Manolis Papakaliatis, said yesterday that the association’s decision to cancel its threatened lockout was “without restriction.” However, ESAKE would almost certainly renew its lockout threat if the government does not keep to its promise to make revisions to the controversial draft bill.

Papakaliatis said an agreement had been reached to implement a four-player limit per team roster for players from the 15-member EU, and a two-player limit on players coming from the EU’s 10 candidate states.

Competition is scheduled to begin on October 26, a month after the original starting date. The draw is set for September.