stadia.gr/forum

Tzinos · Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:39 am Post subject:

Im afraid I have to disagree to that. I would prefer both AEK and PAO basketball clubs to use Goudi and Galatsi complex respectivelly for their basketball needs. I would suggest the same for Olympiakos and the Faliro TaeKwonDo Stadium but they have already set its future.

exitmusician · Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:42 pm Post subject:

For those of you who may not be aware, the owners and directors of all Panathinaikos clubs (football, basketball, volleyball, sports club) had a meeting yesterday to decide on a common view regarding the location of the new Panathinaikos sports center. The proposed sports center will constitute of a football ground (approx. 45.000 seats), a basketball/volleyball indoor hall (of approx. 8-10.000 seats) or two separate indoor halls, an indoor swimming pool and multiple other facilities for the athletics division and the other 23 sports divisions of the club. The first choice is the Votanikos area, near central Athens.

Please note that the majority of the forum members had unanimously voted for Votanikos as the ideal choice for the cports center, while at the same time several sports reporters were trying to convince us that Elliniko was the ideal location and to impose serious doubts about our mental health for not sharing their views...

A first reaction from officials of the City of Athens was that they were not aware that Panathinaikos had a sports center in mind but only a football ground. However they pointed out that they were open to discussions. I have serious doubts about this postulation, since Panathinaikos had clarified right from the start that it would be interested in developing an integrated sports center rather than just a football ground.

IMO, it's a win-win situation. Nobody will take the risk of not reaching an agreement.

Tzinos, I disagree. Had a sports center been built for the Olympics with the cooperation of Panathinaikos (as planned), there would be no need to have this discussion now. The guys at Athens 2004 took a risk and it seems that they lost. You can't force anybody to use facilities for which no post-Olympics exploitation plan has been drawn.

Pluche · New Member Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 21

Thank you exit..

The Panathinaikos sporting complex then would surely be spectacular if all divisions are to be housed in the one area so close to the centre of Athens..let's hope the negotiations with the Athenian council go smoothly.

It is a great shame that so many of the sporting complexes constructed for the Athens Olympics are now going to waste..for me the greatest one is the non use of the indoor basketball arean at Ellinikon which is trylu world class.

Exitmusician you are right when you say the Athens Olympics Organising Committee took a gamble and they lost. It would have made a lot more sense if they had consulted the sporting clubs in Athens prior to designing the stadia used for the Olympics. This would have saved them billions of euros and served the purposes of clubs such as AEK, Panathiniakos, Panionios and others..instead we have a dozen or so empty, unused sporting complexex that may even go to waste.

Christos 7 · Junior Member Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Posts: 95

You are very correct in what you say Pluche.

Things could have been much different, much better had they chosen the logical way. Instead of facilities now wasting away (not all, ofcourse) all these matters could have been planned and Panathinaikos and also maybe AEK could be using their own Sports Centres at the moment.

Guest · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:46 am Post subject:

I have read that the Athenian council and Panathinaikos have in general agree terms. Is this correct ? Does anyone have further details ?

Guest · Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:22 pm Post subject:

I found this story at UEFA.com

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=332766.html

We shall see how this develops in the future.

exitmusician · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:54 pm Post subject:

This is the story, more or less. A couple of errors I spotted are:

1. Pavlos Giannakopoulos is not the president of the football club. He is president of the basketball club, while his brother, Thanassis, president of the what is named as "amateur division" in the article, which comprises all other sports divisions of the club apart from volleyball.
2. The memorandum of agreement postulates the construction of an integrated sports complex including a football ground, an indoor hall for basketball and volleyball (approx. 6-8.000 seats) and facilities for all 23 sports divisions of the club.
3. The overall minimum fee is €72m, payable in 20 annual installments of at least €3.6m.
4. The plan is to begin construction on 1 October 2006, but hard attempts are made to start earlier. This is why Vardinoyiannis, the football club owner, has requested for an appointment with Mayor Bakoyannis to be held on Monday or Tuesday.
5. The Spiros Louis stadium is the Olympic Stadium of Athens. It has been home to AEK FC since last year.

guest star · Guest

Details about the project in Votanikos on the website of Dimand

http://www.dimand.gr/en/pao.htm

you can also find details and pictures about the Paok and Larissa arenas

http://www.dimand.gr/en/paok.htm

http://www.dimand.gr/en/larisa.htm

Pluche · New Member Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 21

Does the recent announcement by the government regarding changes to the project mean the end of the plan ? I understand Panathinaikos is yet to respond in any official capacity but the changes really undermine the "athletic centre" idea.

Admin · Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:52 am Post subject:

I don't agree with you on the "athletic centre idea". The basketball arena was never really anything more than wishful thinking. What changed were the financials of the whole project (meaning: commercial areas). We all knew that the original plan was way too ambitious regarding the various shopping centres, we knew what the Council of the State ordered, so this new decision just showed us what the new government (i.e. Minister of Environment) thinks about the issue. In my opinion, the project was on a limbo long before the recent announcement, which could well serve as the start for a solution.

UWG · Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:25 pm Post subject:

Is it possible for them to start on the stadium and then worry about how they will develop the surrounding area latter? Since the stadium will be the center piece of the project why not just start it? Is everyone just trying to establish their piece of the pie before ground break, is that what the holdup is all about???

Reaper the pure · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 5:03 pm Post subject:

In Greece the last thing to start in the actual physical work. Beofre that you will get debates, bidding for the work, the local communists will try and block the project, more arguing followed by Govt intervention and infighting. When all this has finished after 3-5 years, then there is a chance of work starting or a new venue being considered and the process starts again.

What damaged this project starting was communists and a man called Mr Vovos who is extremely rich and almost single handedly destroyed Athens aesthetically. He is typical of what is wrong with Athens. Extremely stubborn, very old school, no style - all his buildings look mid 80's kazakstan when completed and he is very vicious and ruthless. He is the one who has made sure the stadium is not started under any circumstances until he feels happy that he will make millions out of his shopping centre in the middle of no where which will add no benefit to anyone but his children's bank account.