Super League Greece opens talks on centralized TV rights as clubs clash over commercial criteria

First working group meeting on TV rights

The Super League Greece working group convened via videoconference on Friday, 2 October 2026, to discuss centralized television broadcast rights and the redistribution of revenue across the league. League president Giannis Alafouzos initiated the discussions to explore financial models that could bolster smaller and mid-tier clubs by increasing their revenue shares. The session brought together representatives from Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, AEK, PAOK, and Atromitos to review initial proposals. Attendees examined distribution benchmarks without reaching a final consensus during the opening exchange.

Clash over commercial appeal criteria

Disagreements surfaced during the call over whether audience ratings and commercial strength should determine how television proceeds are shared. Alafouzos argued against using commercial value and league standings as primary distribution factors. He stated that heavily weighting payouts by audience size would restrict funding for smaller clubs.

Commercial appeal is what we are trying not to take into account, due to the large gap between big and small. The goal is to strengthen the smaller clubs with the largest possible amount. If we go by commercial appeal and standings, it will be difficult to provide a stronger subsidy to the clubs.

Olympiacos outlined its opposing stance in a letter detailing four criteria: total revenues, club commercial appeal, European central management models, and international distribution benchmarks. Olympiacos vice-president Kostas Karapapas challenged Alafouzos directly during the meeting. Karapapas questioned why commercial metrics should be discounted and cited previous broadcasting agreements.

Since you do not consider commercial appeal important, why did SKAI, your channel, give 20 million euros to Panathinaikos and 2 to Iraklis for television rights? It is nice to flatter ears, but we will not abolish logic now. Where was it ever heard that we discuss television or other revenues and say that commercial appeal does not matter, or whether a team is followed by millions of fans, who are viewers and the customers of the channels paying for television rights?

Advisory studies and wider revenue models

The discussion follows an earlier agreement reached on 22 September 2026 among the owners of Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, AEK, and PAOK. During that session, the Big-4 owners unanimously approved a proposal by Evangelos Marinakis to commission Deloitte for a formal study on centralized television management. An earlier proposal by Alafouzos to divide television revenue equally among all 14 league clubs was not put to a vote. AEK representative Minas Lysandrou requested during Friday's call that the league examine wider commercial revenue streams rather than focusing exclusively on broadcast rights. Lysandrou recommended involving consulting firm PwC alongside Deloitte in assessing reform options.

Coalition plans and next steps

Alafouzos responded that broadcast rights and betting sponsorships offer the primary avenues for immediate revenue growth. He cited a running three-year agreement with Stoiximan as an established commercial framework. Alafouzos also stated that if unanimous agreement across all 14 clubs proves unattainable, he is prepared to establish a shared pool among seven or eight willing clubs. The working group scheduled its next videoconference for Tuesday, 6 October 2026, with potential participation from representatives of both PwC and Deloitte.