FOOTBALL AND MONEY Steaua, Rapid and Oţelul could lose millions of Euros because of the grass

The domestic football clubs playing in the European cups could lose millions of Euros this autumn and could see their reputation seriously damaged because of the awful grass of the National Arena stadium. The game between Romania and France showed that it is impossible to play football on the current grass surface, as the players are at risk of injuring themselves, and unless a miracle happens, the three teams which decided to play their games on that arena - Steaua, Rapid and Oţelul - will have to ask the UEFA to allow them to play on other stadiums. This would pretty much disrupt the entire schedule, since in Romania, only the stadium of Piatra Neamţ and that of CFR Cluj meet the standards imposed by the European organization. Under these circumstances the three clubs would incur major financial losses. Each club could lose 1 million Euros in ticket sales alone. The image of Romanian football would be dealt a huge blow, especially since there have already been discussions at the UEFA because of the fact that three Romanian teams chose to play their matches on the same stadium and the entire schedule of the competitions had to be changed as a result.

Given the amounts which were invested in Naţional Arena, over 230 million Euros, and the scandal created by the authorities around this construction, frustration is even greater. It"s like spending an eye-popping amount on building a huge theatre, and then having actors unable to perform because the stage was made out of rotten wood planks. The statement made by Sorin Oprescu pretty much says it all about how the authorities have actually prepared for the famous inauguration of the stadium: "The grass was acceptable compared to what I thought it would be like. I was really worried about it. We will see what can be done about it, I can"t order grass to grow. We are ruining the entire project with the quality of the grass, this is damaging to our image". The mayor claims that the company which was contracted to install the grass was not paid, and it would only receive the money after at least seven games will have been played on the stadium. The owner of Steaua, Gigi Becali, said in a statement on the radio that his team would play on the stadium next week: "The specialists who came to see the stadium said that it is would not be advisable to replace the grass now. Nine days from now it will be much better. We are going to play on it. And in the near future, when we replace it, we are going to split the cost with the other clubs". There is also the alternative of bringing in grass from Holland, for a price of 120,000 Euros. The money will initially be paid by Rapid, Steaua and Oţelul, and the amount would be later subtracted from the rent levied by the mayoralty for the games played at home in the groups of the Champions League and Europa League. By the end of the year, the arena will host 10 international games and at least as many in the domestic championship.