A Wednesday-afternoon kick-off nobody asked for
Rennes thought they had a sell-out. Now they have a school-hours game. The Europa League meeting with Olympiacos at Roazhon Park has been pulled forward to Wednesday 4 November, and according to RMC Sport the kick-off is 4:30pm local time.
UEFA agreed to move the tie because a general strike call and large demonstrations in Rennes on the Thursday would stretch the police too thin. It refused to budge on the hour. The slot keeps the game clear of the Champions League programme at 6:45pm, where AEK Athens against Real Madrid would otherwise have competed for the same audience. UEFA also floated playing the match abroad. Rennes turned that down at once.
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Tickets, jobs and a €15 fix
The damage shows in the stands. Only around 2,000 seats were still on sale on Thursday, at prices between €30 and €70, and plenty of season-ticket holders cannot get away from work on a weekday afternoon. One supporter told RMC he negotiated time off with his boss, a lorry driver in public works. A 17-year-old said she has pastry school on Wednesdays and will miss the club’s biggest home night of the season. Rennes have opened an official resale platform.
To fill the ground, the club has teamed up with the Brittany football league and is offering seats at €15 to every club in the region. Kids from local academies are being invited to swap their usual Wednesday training for the game, so Roazhon Park may look a lot younger than planned.
Rennes also expect to lose money on hospitality and VIP packages, as they did when the home game with PSG was reshuffled earlier in the season.
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