By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
Shimon Mizrahi has been the chairman of Maccabi Tel Aviv since 1969 and he has seen many tough periods during the past five decades. The coronavirus pandemic is one of them and it has caused irreparable damage in the Israeli Winner League.
“Maccabi and I have been together since the Yom Kippur War (1973). We went through all the wars, we always did everything to keep the games going, that the league and the games in Europe wouldn’t stop. This crisis has caused irreparable damage that has not yet ended and no one knows when it will end,” he told ONE.
“At least 7 out of 12 groups supported by local authorities announced that they would no longer help them with the budget. There are privately owned groups. This epidemic has caused everyone great economic damage. Who will fund the return of the cast? The flats, cars, payroll, airline tickets, where? The box office is completely empty. You have to look at a way that will give a skylight to groups.”
And those troubles will translate over to the next season which, according to the chairman, won’t be possible without filling up the stands: “If there is no crowd, it will not be possible to start the league next season.”
He also noted that the players should go through at last three weeks of preparation before continuing basketball: “The players have to train for a minimum of 3 weeks, otherwise we risk injuries that will be difficult to prevent.”