By Kostas Dimitriou/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos hosted Fenerbahce without fans at OAKA after being punished by the EuroLeague, and both coaches addressed that issue after the game.
Fenerbahce coach Zeljko Obradovic, who has also been the coach of Panathinaikos for 13 years, expressed his disagreement with the rule: “Playing without spectators is the worst thing in basketball. I hope that this will never happen again in any court. This is something that we all need to think about the level of competition we like because without people; it doesn’t make sense. We have some rules, and it was decided to play the game without spectators. We should discuss this with everyone, especially the club owners and the EuroLeague. This rule is not good. And we all agree than in our gyms we want people who love basketball and not hooligans”.
And he also added that he was surprised by the timing of the announcement like coach Rick Pitino also admitted. “I also read what coach Pitino said, and it was a big surprise for me to play without fans,” Obradovic explained. “Before the game, thirty-forty people came to our hotel, and they had already arrived in Athens from Turkey. The hotel, the flight, the ticket, they paid for everything, and they were not able to come and see the game. As I said, I hope it never happens again because I know how much people love basketball here”.
“The fans almost cost us a game.”
Panathinaikos coach Rick Pitino addressed the fans of Panathinaikos: “What the fans have to realize is this. They are a big part of us winning. We have I think one of the strongest home-court advantages I have seen in my 42 years of coaching. And they almost cost us a game tonight. And they also have to understand that we have an owner and his family that quite frankly I can’t understand as an American because we have a different philosophy. Our philosophy is to make money, not to lose money. So we have a family that for years, because of their love for Panathinaikos and the fans, they lose a lot of money. So we can’t put him in jeopardy of losing a gate of 16.000 people. That’s big for us to run a franchise”.
It’s a well-known fact in Europe that even in the EuroLeague, very few teams are breaking even, and in most cases, either a wealthy owner or the football section of each club bear the financial burdens of the basketball section.