Jokerit back to Liiga + finnish KHL players

[Jussi]

And no one cared, it was a hockey club without much heart, lost its identity. Memorable moments from that era tend to have more to do with toxic behavior on and off the ice than hockey.

Oh we cared. Gutted after the finals losses but somewhat pleased with the bronze.

 

[Jussi]

New Mestis attendance record will be set tomorrow. Only 8 seats left of the 8200 at Nordis.

 

[Jussi]

New Mestis attendance record will be set tomorrow. Only 8 seats left of the 8200 at Nordis.

Officially sold out!

Jokerit myi Nordiksen loppuun

Helsingin Jokerien ja Kiekko-Vantaan ottelussa muistetaan Pave Maijasta ja rikotaan katsojaennätys.

www.iltalehti.fi

 

[karhukissa]

Kiekko-Espoo managed to raise 3 million euros from local investors, which they get if Liiga doors open. Espoo has the best junior program, it's the second largest city in Finland and they get decent budget for the first season.

Petteri Sihvonen said well that Kiekko-Espoo must get to Liiga next season and Jokerit 24-25 season. And then there should be some kind of A and B league, because 17 teams Liiga is too much. A and B league or something along those lines would be great idea. Sport isn't Liiga level team or organization, same goes to SaiPa.

 

[Jussi]

 

[Albatros]

Kiekko-Espoo presumably added next summer and after that annual elimination games between the worst Liiga team and the Mestis champions.

Sounds a bit like a reform but really isn't. Liiga will continue absolutely bloated with 15 or 16 teams, no reduction in sight unless an existing team goes bankrupt. After Jokerit eventually manages to overcome SaiPa or whomever, then relegation/promotion will occur exclusively between teams that don't belong to the top tier to start with.

Liiga really dropped the puck with this one.

 

[CPFC]

How it should go:

12 teams in Liiga and 12 teams in Mestis. The last two teams in Liiga will play in a qualification series with the four semifinal teams from Mestis and the two top teams from that series are awarded with a place in Liiga.

Should be a no-brainer.

 

[Albatros]

In principle, but there aren't even 24 pro-capable teams at the moment. Really just 10+10 would be better for now. That way also Liiga2 would be competitive and semi-pro sides would have it good among themselves in third-tier Mestis. Champions should get promoted automatically as long as they pass the financial requirements so that there won't be a hard border between the tiers again. The Liiga2 runner-up could face the second worst Liiga team in an elimination game.

 

[member 305909]

A question to those who supported Jokerit but abandoned the team when they left for the KHL: Did you reject the team because of leaving Finland or because of joining a Russian league?

I mean if the team had left for some Western-European league, if such a thing existed, would you have stayed or walked away?

 

[ES]

Not among of those but I understand that it was mostly due to ownership and their connections to Putin.

 

[mattihp]

A question to those who supported Jokerit but abandoned the team when they left for the KHL: Did you reject the team because of leaving Finland or because of joining a Russian league?

I mean if the team had left for some Western-European league, if such a thing existed, would you have stayed or walked away?

I think more were disgruntled because they lost one of the oldest rivalries in hockey. But overall rival fans were more upset as we saw leaving as a betrayal.

 

[Albatros]

A lot of IFK fans started attending Jokerit KHL games at least occasionally, the kind of toxicity that characterized the rivalry in the 2000s was suddenly gone which is anyhow a good thing and hopefully won't return.

 

[eal]

As a KHL fan I miss seeing Jokerit, I hope they eventually make it back to Liiga at least.

 

[Albatros]

Jokerit announced that they will not seek promotion to Liiga in the foreseeable future unless the current expansion fee system (ca. €3.8 million) is first scrapped.

Jokerit ei tavoittele Liiga-paikkaa nykyisillä ehdoilla — JOKERIT

Jokerit Helsinki Oy:n hallitus on tehnyt päätöksen, ettei seura hae Liiga-paikkaa kaudelle 2025-26 nykyisillä ehdoilla. Jokereiden tavoitteena on edelleen pelata Suomessa korkeimmalla sarjatasolla, mutta tehdä se vaarantamatta seuran tulevaisuutta. Liiga tiedotti 12.10.2023, että kotimaan pääsarjas

www.jokerit.fi

 

[CPFC]

Something is definitely brewing among the bigger Liiga clubs. Tappara is apparently spearheading a campaign which aims to change the existing Liiga structure. There are too many clubs, not enough competitiveness and the current expansion fee essentially prevents any Mestis clubs from gaining promotion.

The big clubs are envisioning a system of 10 clubs in the highest tier and 10 or 12 clubs in the second tier.

Liiga officials have refused to comment on just about anything, regarding also the valuation of the current expansion fee (3.8 million for Jokerit). Looks rather bad to the outside.

SM-liigalle tärähti hurja kirje – Nyt suurseuroissa puhutaan jopa kartellista

Isot seurat ovat valmiita romuttamaan täysin nykyisen liigajärjestelmän.

www.iltalehti.fi

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

This goes back to that TV-money thing I mentioned earlier. The current one is way overpriced and the TV companies lose money on, meaning next deal is smaller. Problem is, TV-companies have two prices in mind for the next deal. One price without and one price with Jokerit and Kiekko-Espoo.

It’s blindingly obvious that you can sell more advertising and tv subscriptions to those games if you have the two largest cities in Finland accounted for. The value of Sport, HPK, Kalpa, Saipa, whoever is peanuts compared to that.

So now the big drama, how do they deal with this. Either they find a way, such as a 12+12 league, or whatever kind of reform. Other option is for big clubs to break off and form a new league. Because the TV money is for the big clubs + Jokerit and Kiekko Espoo and a few of the smaller clubs for sake of tradition. Everything else is unnecessary and unwanted.

Attendance wise the big teams also want Jokerit, look at them now filling arenas around mestis. They draw crowds.

 

[Lackhalak]

Bring back relegation

every team plays each other 6 times. 6x9=54 game season

FHL	Teams		Arena	Population (metro)
1​	Tampere	Ilves	13,455​	448,000​
2​	Turku	TPS	11,820​	362,000​
3​	Helsinki	HIFK	-10,500​	1,671,000​
4​	Tampere	Tappara	13,455​	448,000​
5​	Oulu	Karpat	6,768​	258,000​
6​	Jyvaskyla	JYP	-7,000​	212,000​
7​	Lahti	Pelicans	5,371​	191,000​
8​	Kuopio	KalPa	5,300​	168,000​
9​	Pori	Assat	6,300​	137,000​
10​	Rauma	Lukko	5,400​	66,000​
FHL2	Teams		Arena	Population (metro)
1​	Kouvola	KooKoo	5,950​	61,000​
2​	Hameenlinna	HPK	5,360​	67,000​
3​	Lapreenranta	SaiPa	4,820​	73,000​
4​	Vassa	Sport	4,512​	67,000​
5​	Mikkeli	Jukurit	4,200​	54,000​
6​	Helsinki	Jokerit	13,349​	1,671,000​
7​	Espoo	Keikko	6,982​	1,671,000​
8​	Joensuu	JoKP	4,800​	76,000​
9​	Kokkola	Hermes	4,200​	48,000​
10​	Rovaniemi	RoKi	3,500​	63,000​

 

[vorky]

This goes back to that TV-money thing I mentioned earlier. The current one is way overpriced and the TV companies lose money on, meaning next deal is smaller. Problem is, TV-companies have two prices in mind for the next deal. One price without and one price with Jokerit and Kiekko-Espoo.

It’s blindingly obvious that you can sell more advertising and tv subscriptions to those games if you have the two largest cities in Finland accounted for. The value of Sport, HPK, Kalpa, Saipa, whoever is peanuts compared to that.

So now the big drama, how do they deal with this. Either they find a way, such as a 12+12 league, or whatever kind of reform. Other option is for big clubs to break off and form a new league. Because the TV money is for the big clubs + Jokerit and Kiekko Espoo and a few of the smaller clubs for sake of tradition. Everything else is unnecessary and unwanted.

Attendance wise the big teams also want Jokerit, look at them now filling arenas around mestis. They draw crowds.

Liiga has serious problem with attendance as you said. The second tweet is about occupancy, what is sadly are numbers for Ilves & Tappara (new venue).

 

[Jussi]

IS: Helsingin areena voidaan pian pakkolunastaa

Venäläisomistajat ovat kertoneet olevansa valmiita myymään osakkeensa hallin omistavassa yhtiössä, mutta kaupan tiellä seisoo EU:n pakotelainsäädäntö.

yle.fi

Entinen Hartwall-areena pakkolunastetaan? Ulkoministeriön lähde: ”Asiassa ei enää pitkään vitkutella”

Mikäli Helsinki-hallin venäläisomistajat eivät edistä kauppoja vapaaehtoisesti, Suomen valtio puuttuu peliin. Joulukuussa ratkeaa todennäköisesti paljon.

www.is.fi

Govenrment planning to expropriate the arena in January - February if there is no sale by then.

 

[Albatros]

Regaining control over the arena is one thing, and resuming business as usual especially in hockey another.

 

[Bijelo]

Want to 12 finnish teams of finnish Liiga.

Ilves
Tappara
HIFK
TPS
JYP
Ässät
Kalpa
Kärpät
Pelicans
Jukurit
Jokerit
Sport

 

[ES]

12 teams would be OK but would not go with those 12. Missing 2019 and 2021 champion teams there.

OK, HPK hasn't been good this season but overall they have been much more deserving than Sport. KooKoo was too a semi-finalist just two years ago.

Jukurit has been great in this season as well as two years ago. Interesting to see where they go once Olli Jokinen leaves.

 

[JabbaJabba]

Want to 12 finnish teams of finnish Liiga.

Ilves
Tappara
HIFK
TPS
JYP
Ässät
Kalpa
Kärpät
Pelicans
Jukurit
Jokerit
Sport

Replace Jukurit and Sport with Lukko and HPK.

 

[mattihp]

Replace Jukurit and Sport with Lukko and HPK.

If Lukko gets a lick, SaiPa should too.

 

[Albatros]

Lukko is financially well above average.