bwin Media Day
A few days before the first official tip off of the season, Olympiacos BC and the Mega Sponsor, bwin, held a unique Press Conference.
Media availability included the General Director of Olympiacos BC, Nikos Lepeniotis, the CEO of bwin Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrais, the Olympiacos’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, Giorgos Printezis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Kostas Sloukas, Tyler Dorsey, Mustafa Fall, Thomas Walkup and Michalis Lountzis.
The General Director of Olympiacos BC, Nikos Lepeniotis stressed among others: “We are very happy and very optimistic. It’s a new era for Greek basketball. We believe that following the elections for the new administration of the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the only way is up. Conditions favor the growth of Greek basketball and of professional basketball in extension. We are very optimistic for the team. The coach and his associates, together with the administration, have worked hard, so as to prepare the best possible team for this season. It’s going to be a difficult one, since the Pandemic is still here. Arenas are not going to be filled at max capacity and this is something that burdens us. However, it’s still going to be better than the last one, since we are going to have our fans by our side and we hope to live moments comparable to the big moments of the past. For yet another season, the fourth one in a row, our Mega Sponsor, bwin, is with us. An excellent company comprised by excellent people. Beyond from being a big company though, we share common principles and values. It’s a betting company but one with a very responsible attitude nonetheless. Everyone here with Olympiacos feel very proud that they have been supporting our efforts through all these years. We also try to do our best, they are an exceptional collaborator, we are very happy to have them with us and we wish for a season full of success”.
On his part, the CEO of bwin Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias said: “We already count three years as the Mega Sponsors of Olympiacos BC. It’s a big enough time to be able to assess this collaboration. There are good sponsorship relationship and there are those when the two parties faithfully abide by what is stipulated in the legal documentation that has been signed. And there are the truly good, the big collaborations, when the two parties work side by side. We have always been close to Olympiacos and Olympiacos has been close to us. Each time we had to face changing factors, when we were coming up against challenges that no legal documentation could have foreseen, we remained close. The same with each initiative of social awareness and each relevant program. Whenever we asked for the help of the administration, the players, the coaches to promote, beyond social messaging, a messaging as to the responsible game, they had been there. The Olympiacos sponsorship is a very important piece of our sponsoring strategy, that includes some very elite collaborations. Indicatively, I’m going to refer to the Euroleague sponsorship in regard to basketball, as well as the sponsorship of the Bundesliga (football) and that of the national team of Germany. It is very recently that a great collaboration with UEFA has been announced. Now, bwin is also sponsoring the UEFA Europa League and Europa Conference League. UEFA has never had before collaborated with a company from the betting industry. It was very important for us. It was a verification that UEFA chose us, stressing how aligned our priorities are and our principles for responsible betting. We hope that we continue working together in the same manner for the remainder of the years our contract provides for, and ideally for many more. I wish to sincerely thank the administration, the players, the technical staff and especially Nikos (i.e. Lepeniotis) for that collaboration”.
The good atmosphere between the two parties was verified also by the ‘reds’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas. “I have been with Olympiacos for more than 18 months now and what I can tell with certainty is that human relationships are much more important than signatures. In this case, there are very important human relationships forged. I would also like to express my gratitude, because I was also able to put pressure on the administration for some more expensive signings during the summer and it’s only certain that bwin had a significant contribution towards that goal”.