Can KHL ever become profitable?Does the league even want to become profitable?

ForumNamePending

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The difference is that all the NHL drafted players will bring their teams a guaranteed figure, where as the same can't be said about the players going to KHL. Basically the players previously below the radar in a breakthrough/career season (like Teemu Ramstedt) can expect to fetch their teams any kind of decent transfer money, the players that know they can expect to play abroad in the future will have included a KHL clause in their contracts that guarantees them either a free or a very cheap exit (most SM-Liiga players have this clause already).

True... But I don't think the fact that in certain situations players transferring to the KHL for nothing changes my original point that the NHL's MO when dealing with European clubs/leagues/federations hasn't exactly been great for European hockey or its fans. At the end of the day though I am in NA and should just step away and let you guys debate what is and isn't good for hockey in Europe.:) Besides... vorky has me a bit confused. I was under the impression that the KHL was going to 'save' hockey by placing teams in every European (and Asian) capital but now it appears based on his last post it is going to be done by overhauling how international transfers are conducted.

At this point it would seem hockey will continue to be a bit of a disorganized mess. It's almost like in despite of itself the sport has found a way to survive and even in certain places at certain times thrive and grow.
 

vorky

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There is more ways how can KHL "save" euro hockey. But KHL as league will not "save" anybody if national federation dont cooperate/support junior and kids hockey.

One way is to force NHL to sign better deal

Second way is to give players better league. Do you think it is bad for slovak hockey if Slovan Bratislava has 20-25 slovak players playing KHL? Would be better for the to play slovak/czech league? I dont think so. The same can be said about Finns/Swedes if KHL exodus go on in future.

Slovak/czech jr leagues are week, one o reasons why slovaks/czechs leaving to Sweden/Canada... now, leaving to MHL, which is jr league of KHL system. Energie from Czech rep plays MHL, 30 czech kids can play against Russians day by day. Is it bad for them? Majority of them would play czech jr league if no czech MHL team. I talked to many players of Energie - their answers: MHL is much better league than czech jr league. Slovakia does not have MHL team, maybe in future, but many Slovaks play for Budapest. Swedes/Finns does not need MHL, they have great, better (?) jr league at home. Ont the other hand, slovaks/czechs should welcome MHL. No chance to create so great jr league as J20 SuperElit in Slovakia/Czech rep.

MHL created Junior Club World Cup, which is summer tourney of best jr leagues. CHL/USHL participated last season, this summer will join as well. Champions of finnish/swedish jr leagues play here as well. Is this tourney bad for jr hockey in Europe? European Trophy clubs created similar tourney, but dont support it anymore. Why?

European Trophy Junior (previously named Nordic Trophy Junior between 2007 and 2009) was the junior edition of the European Trophy ice hockey tournament. European Trophy Junior was for ice hockey players younger than the age of 20. It was played in August every year. The tournament was cancelled after 2010.
 

ForumNamePending

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You won't get an arguement from me that the KHL or MHL giving more players the opportunity to compete at a higher level isn't potentially a good thing.

Regarding Slovan specifically it is IMHO pretty hard to argue that the first year wasn't a success. The building was full and the team made up primarily of Slovak players (including some younger guys) was competitive. Not sure though what happens mid/long term to the domestic league without the wealthiest, most prestigious club from the wealthiest and largest city. Does Slovakia really come out ahead if professional hockey while thriving in the capital 'dies' in other secondary/provancial cities? I don't know to be honest but I don't find either side of the arguement ridiculous.

The part of the discussion in this thread (and others) I find silly is the following...

-The idea the Swedish, Swiss, etc leagues aren't well supported or popular in their won markets (totally false) and need the KHL to come in to show the locals 'how things should be done'.

-A couple of KHL teams in Germany (or Italy, or China, or...) will result in hockey becoming more relevant in Germany (and Germany becoming more relevant in hockey) and end in a huge revenue boon for all involved.
 

airbus1094

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You won't get an arguement from me that the KHL or MHL giving more players the opportunity to compete at a higher level isn't potentially a good thing.

Regarding Slovan specifically it is IMHO pretty hard to argue that the first year wasn't a success. The building was full and the team made up primarily of Slovak players (including some younger guys) was competitive. Not sure though what happens mid/long term to the domestic league without the wealthiest, most prestigious club from the wealthiest and largest city. Does Slovakia really come out ahead if professional hockey while thriving in the capital 'dies' in other secondary/provancial cities? I don't know to be honest but I don't find either side of the arguement ridiculous.

The part of the discussion in this thread (and others) I find silly is the following...

-The idea the Swedish, Swiss, etc leagues aren't well supported or popular in their won markets (totally false) and need the KHL to come in to show the locals 'how things should be done'.

-A couple of KHL teams in Germany (or Italy, or China, or...) will result in hockey becoming more relevant in Germany (and Germany becoming more relevant in hockey) and end in a huge revenue boon for all involved.

Agree with all that you said and you make great points, but wouldn't a contract from a large european station provide the KHL with a good bit of cash influx. Obviously it wouldn't transform the KHL overnight, but it would be a huge step up from the current situation. I don't know the exact numbers, but I assume that right now the KHL gets almost nothing from broadcasting contracts. So it would be a start.
 

Jussi

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True... But I don't think the fact that in certain situations players transferring to the KHL for nothing changes my original point that the NHL's MO when dealing with European clubs/leagues/federations hasn't exactly been great for European hockey or its fans. At the end of the day though I am in NA and should just step away and let you guys debate what is and isn't good for hockey in Europe.:) Besides... vorky has me a bit confused. I was under the impression that the KHL was going to 'save' hockey by placing teams in every European (and Asian) capital but now it appears based on his last post it is going to be done by overhauling how international transfers are conducted.

At this point it would seem hockey will continue to be a bit of a disorganized mess. It's almost like in despite of itself the sport has found a way to survive and even in certain places at certain times thrive and grow.

Another concept that has no sense of realism.
 

Jussi

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Agree with all that you said and you make great points, but wouldn't a contract from a large european station provide the KHL with a good bit of cash influx. Obviously it wouldn't transform the KHL overnight, but it would be a huge step up from the current situation. I don't know the exact numbers, but I assume that right now the KHL gets almost nothing from broadcasting contracts. So it would be a start.

Yeah, not happening. European stations won't pay much for hockey because it doesn't bring in the ratings. If there was, don't you think e.g. Eurosport would show much more hockey?
 

Peter25

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At the risk of going totally off topic... I have no doubt that the KHL is great for Russian hockey (and Russian hockey doing well is good, probably even vital, for hockey in general) but I have no idea where the idea that the KHL has to 'save' European hockey comes from.
That is a very good sentence and exactly how I feel. The KHL should concentrate exclusively on developing Russian hockey. Fine, if foreign teams want to join the KHL they can do it if the financing does not have to come from Russia. Otherwise no.

Russians financing foreign teams to play in the KHL is... well... kind of idiotic.
 

Latgale_fan

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Yeah, not happening. European stations won't pay much for hockey because it doesn't bring in the ratings. If there was, don't you think e.g. Eurosport would show much more hockey?

Let's put it this way- before Dinamo Rīga played in KHL Latvian stations paid 0 for anyone to show any Latvian games (except WC rights and such) and now, AFAIK, the amount mention for which Viasat bought Dinamo Riga game rights could be about 2 million USD...
Ok that's hockey crazy Latvia but I suppose Russian regional channels (even if they are poor) should also pay something, and I believe a better tv deal could be negotiated with Slovakia where there's a big Slovan craze now, and Ukraine. If KHL comes to Germany, no doubt TV rights will sell better in hockey loving (or even not in that hockey loving) markets because the product will be better (that can be arguable though since there are still some teams that cannot give out a good 16:9 signal, not talking even about HD).

Of course at the moment these stations are not paying much because 3 people outside of Sweden are interested in Elitserien, 3 people outside Finland are interested in SM Liiga etc. What they can get at home, they squueze out at max. I believe if KHL moves to strong (and not so strong yet hockey familiar markets) in time, not in one year or two, revenues from hockey broadcasts will only grow.

I know that probably it will never happen, but if we had a league of 30 teams - one in Helsinki, other in Stockholm, still yet another in Berlin, Bern, Prague, Bratislava, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Ufa, Frankfurth... all the major hockey and maybe some not so hockey markets, if it was played in 20 000 arenas and would feature the best that Europe had to offer, tv contracts would go up and people would be hockey mad. It's hard to be hockey mad about 30 000 town beating another 30 000 town, especially for a foreigner that doest know what the hell is HV 71... It's completely other thing if Moscow is playing Berlin in a 20 000 arena.

It's the same as comparing Real- MU game to Stade de Reims- Montpellier. At the moment we are complaining that there is no interest in hockey in Europe and tv broadcasts but what kind of product we have at the moment? We have Stade de Reims and Montpellier... with no ambitions to become anything else. There's the answer. I don't like many things Russians do but they want to elevete hockey to the level of 20 000 arenas and NHL budgets, at the moment they are overspending but they can overspend for players for a while and during that while something great might form in European hockey.
 
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Jussi

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Let's put it this way- before Dinamo Rīga played in KHL Latvian stations paid 0 for anyone to show any Latvian games (except WC rights and such) and now, AFAIK, the amount mention for which Viasat bought Dinamo Riga game rights could be about 2 million USD...
Ok that's hockey crazy Latvia but I suppose Russian regional channels (even if they are poor) should also pay something, and I believe a better tv deal could be negotiated with Slovakia where there's a big Slovan craze now, and Ukraine. If KHL comes to Germany, no doubt TV rights will sell better in hockey loving (or even not in that hockey loving) markets because the product will be better (that can be arguable though since there are still some teams that cannot give out a good 16:9 signal, not talking even about HD).

Of course at the moment these stations are not paying much because 3 people outside of Sweden are interested in Elitserien, 3 people outside Finland are interested in SM Liiga etc. What they can get at home, they squueze out at max. I believe if KHL moves to strong (and not so strong yet hockey familiar markets) in time, not in one year or two, revenues from hockey broadcasts will only grow.

I know that probably it will never happen, but if we had a league of 30 teams - one in Helsinki, other in Stockholm, still yet another in Berlin, Bern, Prague, Bratislava, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Ufa, Frankfurth... all the major hockey and maybe some not so hockey markets, if it was played in 20 000 arenas and would feature the best that Europe had to offer, tv contracts would go up and people would be hockey mad. It's hard to be hockey mad about 30 000 town beating another 30 000 town, especially for a foreigner that doest know what the hell is HV 71... It's completely other thing if Moscow is playing Berlin in a 20 000 arena.

It's the same as comparing Real- MU game to Stade de Reims- Montpellier. At the moment we are complaining that there is no interest in hockey in Europe and tv broadcasts but what kind of product we have at the moment? We have Stade de Reims and Montpellier... with no ambitions to become anything else. There's the answer. I don't like many things Russians do but they want to elevete hockey to the level of 20 000 arenas and NHL budgets, at the moment they are overspending but they can overspend for players for a while and during that while something great might form in European hockey.

No, that would still be Moscow vs Berlin...in ice hockey. It's the sport itself, not the teams.
 

yunost

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Let's put it this way- before Dinamo Rīga played in KHL Latvian stations paid 0 for anyone to show any Latvian games (except WC rights and such) and now, AFAIK, the amount mention for which Viasat bought Dinamo Riga game rights could be about 2 million USD...
Ok that's hockey crazy Latvia but I suppose Russian regional channels (even if they are poor) should also pay something, and I believe a better tv deal could be negotiated with Slovakia where there's a big Slovan craze now, and Ukraine. If KHL comes to Germany, no doubt TV rights will sell better in hockey loving (or even not in that hockey loving) markets because the product will be better (that can be arguable though since there are still some teams that cannot give out a good 16:9 signal, not talking even about HD).

Of course at the moment these stations are not paying much because 3 people outside of Sweden are interested in Elitserien, 3 people outside Finland are interested in SM Liiga etc. What they can get at home, they squueze out at max. I believe if KHL moves to strong (and not so strong yet hockey familiar markets) in time, not in one year or two, revenues from hockey broadcasts will only grow.

I know that probably it will never happen, but if we had a league of 30 teams - one in Helsinki, other in Stockholm, still yet another in Berlin, Bern, Prague, Bratislava, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Ufa, Frankfurth... all the major hockey and maybe some not so hockey markets, if it was played in 20 000 arenas and would feature the best that Europe had to offer, tv contracts would go up and people would be hockey mad. It's hard to be hockey mad about 30 000 town beating another 30 000 town, especially for a foreigner that doest know what the hell is HV 71... It's completely other thing if Moscow is playing Berlin in a 20 000 arena.

It's the same as comparing Real- MU game to Stade de Reims- Montpellier. At the moment we are complaining that there is no interest in hockey in Europe and tv broadcasts but what kind of product we have at the moment? We have Stade de Reims and Montpellier... with no ambitions to become anything else. There's the answer. I don't like many things Russians do but they want to elevete hockey to the level of 20 000 arenas and NHL budgets, at the moment they are overspending but they can overspend for players for a while and during that while something great might form in European hockey.

agree 100%
 

RicEsteban85

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No, that would still be Moscow vs Berlin...in ice hockey. It's the sport itself, not the teams.

No, I dont agree. Germans are crazy about international competition. A team, lets say from Berlin, representing Germany in the best hockey league in Europe would definitely draw new spectators, who might be not interested in hockey right now, because everybody knows that DEL is quite a poor leage. The hockey you see there is not really exciting compared to KHL. Besides that the actual hockey fans would watch it anyway. I really see a chance making hockey more popular in Germany by participating in the KHL!
 

Vicente

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No, that would still be Moscow vs Berlin...in ice hockey. It's the sport itself, not the teams.

I am not sure what you are talking about. Matches between Berlin, Cologne, Mannheim, Hamburg and Düsseldorf are pretty big here in Germany and there is a lot of news coverage of them! Look at yesterday. Berlin like always sold out 14,200 against bottom team Wolfsburg. Hamburg with 10,000+ fans against Cologne. Cologne itself had 13,000+ in the arena against Ingolstadt on Friday.

The only fans who were intersted in European Trophy and watched the games where the Germans. Mannheim and Berlin had 7,000+ fans there while Finns had only several hundreds...

When there was Champions Hockey League for Berlin against Oulu and Magnitogorsk etc there was a lot of coverage in German news.

I mean there is already a media hype in certan places like the above mentioned cities. Do you really think when Cologne can sell out 18,500 tickets against Straubing they won't be able to attract fans against Ak Bars Kazan or Dynamo Moscow?

If Germans can see a great hockey product, they will watch it. It alreay happens now in top matches in DEL. Germans like international competitions. It's the same in football, basketball, handball etc. ! You can't compare this to Finland whose club teams never win anything.
 

Latgale_fan

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At the moment the hockey is the least ''pro-European'' sport that I know off. All other sports have major European competitions, not to mention football, basketball has Euroleague and all kinds of regional competitions (in Latvia VEF Riga plays in European Cup, VTB League similar to KHL for ex USSR and not only countries, Baltic league, Latvian league, ex Yugoslavia has Adriatic league), I don't follow handball much but it's the same, rugby- the same.

In hockey all we have is this small Continental Cup tournament for 2nd rate teams that sometimes participate and sometimes now and pre-season European Trophy... Plus Spengler Cup if it can be called sort of European competion. Everyone (except KHL and EBEL, Belarus) pretty much stays in its own market and neither invites anyone else to it (Riga tried to get into Swedish and Finnish hockey in the past with 0 results, the same with Russian hockey before KHL- zero results), neither accepts clubs that want to play outside these competitions. But at the same time everyone is complaining about low tv revenues and clubs that look like tramps with 20 stickers of various colours on jerseys....

Sure we might say that at the moment the market for hockey is not that big in Europe, but still if we take 6-7 big Russian cities, 4-5 German cities, 2-3 from Sweden, 1-2 Finland, Bratislava, Prague, Riga, Minsk, Donetsk and Kyiv from Ukraine, someone from Switzerland, maybe Austria or other Scandinavia like Denmark and Norway, there's already a market of over 300 million people and its all in places where people know hockey and it can grow. In all of these markets hockey might not be nr.1 but it's a recognizable sport and aside from Germany, I believe no lower than nr.2 position in popularity. Add emerging markets like Hungary and maybe Croatia and you have even a bigger market.

Of course I have these plans only because I'm selfish and I don't want to spend a night (when I should be sleeping) watching cities that I have no emotional attachment playing on small ice that I hate... :laugh: And I would rather watch great hockey played in Europe. KHL is a step in right direction, but most of its problems are the ones that would not really be problems if a Western European country was organizing such a league....

I'm not necessarily pro Russian or anything, if Elitserien or SM Liiga invited Dinamo Rīga to play there, and I was the team boss I'd say ''let's do it'' immediately, because these are more predictable leagues, require much lower budgets and actually help you to earn, not hinder your earnings... Plus these are the leagues you know if you have built a team well, you can win, not like in KHL where you have someone that spends 60 milion on salaries and others who spend 12 million... The hockey level will not be that high but high enough for a team like Dinamo. Unfortunately the only league that's thinking about bringing high level hockey to other markets than their own is KHL...
 

vorky

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If Germans can see a great hockey product, they will watch it. It alreay happens now in top matches in DEL. Germans like international competitions.
That is a reason why I say that Germany is important market for KHL. So I believe german clubs join KHL sooner or later.

As we know, UFA Sports is marketing partner of KHL, sells tv rights. Where does UFA Sports has its HQ? In Hamburg, Germany. I dont think that UFA Sports are idiots who know nothing about german society/tv market. So, KHL has infos about potential german market. Will be fun to follow it.
 

Vicente

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In all of these markets hockey might not be nr.1 but it's a recognizable sport and aside from Germany, I believe no lower than nr.2 position in popularity.

In Germany many people consider handball/basketball the second most popular sports but that is mostly because many people play this in their free time while to play ice hockey yourself is barely possible outside of Bavaria.

What is interesting is that DEL has a far higher attendance than the Handball or Basketball leagues.

And DEL is the only professional league (even football can't compete) with all important markets - Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hannover... !)
 

ForumNamePending

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Germany becoming more relevant in hockey and hockey becoming more relevant in Germany could be huge for the sport. Despite all the apparent problems the sport has in Germany well over 100,000 people attended DEL games last weekend so there is probably still potential there. I just don't think having 3 or 4 of the strongest teams/markets leave the DEL to join the KHL (at a far greated operating cost) and potentially kill off the top domectic league is the way to go.
 

Jussi

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I am not sure what you are talking about. Matches between Berlin, Cologne, Mannheim, Hamburg and Düsseldorf are pretty big here in Germany and there is a lot of news coverage of them! Look at yesterday. Berlin like always sold out 14,200 against bottom team Wolfsburg. Hamburg with 10,000+ fans against Cologne. Cologne itself had 13,000+ in the arena against Ingolstadt on Friday.

The only fans who were intersted in European Trophy and watched the games where the Germans. Mannheim and Berlin had 7,000+ fans there while Finns had only several hundreds...

When there was Champions Hockey League for Berlin against Oulu and Magnitogorsk etc there was a lot of coverage in German news.

I mean there is already a media hype in certan places like the above mentioned cities. Do you really think when Cologne can sell out 18,500 tickets against Straubing they won't be able to attract fans against Ak Bars Kazan or Dynamo Moscow?

If Germans can see a great hockey product, they will watch it. It alreay happens now in top matches in DEL. Germans like international competitions. It's the same in football, basketball, handball etc. ! You can't compare this to Finland whose club teams never win anything.

Well of course German or fans in other countries will watch the local teams.

Finnish teams ET attendances were low largely because they played them at neutral or smaller rinks due to home arena not being ready/available yet.

Finnish clubs haven't won anything? :laugh: Yup you sure know your hockey history. Hint: try googling the winners of the European Cup and the first winner of the ECL. A bit more successful than Germans.
 

Vicente

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Finnish clubs haven't won anything? :laugh: Yup you sure know your hockey history. Hint: try googling the winners of the European Cup and the first winner of the ECL. A bit more successful than Germans.

That was long time ago. And i meant Finish sports in general. They are just not a successful nation in team sports if we talk about club events.
 

Jussi

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That was long time ago. And i meant Finish sports in general. They are just not a successful nation in team sports if we talk about club events.

For a nation of 5 million, located in Northern Europe with somewhat challenging climate, hockey is just about the only team sports we can succeed in. Jokerit and Tappara faired well in the ET. We don't have a chance of winning anything in basketball or football. Handball is such a small sport here in general that I'm not even thinking about it. Our basketball and volleyball national teams have qualified for the European championships recently but that's about it.
 

ult

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Big interview with Roman Rotenberg, Vice-President for Marketing of SKA - text,audio.

The income from the merchandise went from 7 mln rubles last year up to 100 mln rubles this year. The ticket prices are at $20-30 average and the prices go up by 20 percent per year. They sold out 20 games out of 26 this regular season, so he thinks that eventually they'll need to build bigger arena. They have about 2000 season tickets holders.

They spend a lot of money for arena lease, all around pre-game shows, sound, entertainment for fans and stuff, but in the end their per-game net profit is around $200,000

He's also talking about different problems, like they are not satisfied with the quality of ice surface, to be more specific - it's color. So they're constantly working on improving broadcasts quality.

From September to January their total income equaled 200 mln rubles (with play off they have a pretty good chance to double it up), even though they do not earn any money from TV rights, all revenue goes to KHL.

I'd say he's very competent manager, and all Russian teams have a thing to learn from SKA.
 

metmag

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Big interview with Roman Rotenberg, Vice-President for Marketing of SKA - text,audio.

The income from the merchandise went from 7 mln rubles last year up to 100 mln rubles this year. The ticket prices are at $20-30 average and the prices go up by 20 percent per year. They sold out 20 games out of 26 this regular season, so he thinks that eventually they'll need to build bigger arena. They have about 2000 season tickets holders.

They spend a lot of money for arena lease, all around pre-game shows, sound, entertainment for fans and stuff, but in the end their per-game net profit is around $200,000

He's also talking about different problems, like they are not satisfied with the quality of ice surface, to be more specific - it's color. So they're constantly working on improving broadcasts quality.

From September to January their total income equaled 200 mln rubles (with play off they have a pretty good chance to double it up), even though they do not earn any money from TV rights, all revenue goes to KHL.

I'd say he's very competent manager, and all Russian teams have a thing to learn from SKA.

I wonder how much that growth has to do with Kovalchuk and the lockout in general. It would be interesting to see if they can keep this growth up without the lockout next season.
 

vorky

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I wonder how much that growth has to do with Kovalchuk and the lockout in general. It would be interesting to see if they can keep this growth up without the lockout next season.

they can, because:

1) have great marketing= new fans
2) can sell Kovalchuk´s jerseys etc
 

ult

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I wonder how much that growth has to do with Kovalchuk and the lockout in general. It would be interesting to see if they can keep this growth up without the lockout next season.

As the attendance shows lockout had little to no impact on the figures. First and foremost the growth happened due to the opening of two brand new club shops, one of them in the historical center of St. Petersburg, redesign of their online shop, and much wider range of products. Also they've partnered with FC Zenit and reebok. Yeah, sure, people like Kovalchuk jerseys, but the jersey shopping culture in Russia isn't on that stage when people just collect jerseys of their favorite players. If they didn't have SKA jersery to begin with, I don't think that the lack of Kovalchuk's name would have stopped them from buying it.
 

metmag

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As the attendance shows lockout had little to no impact on the figures. First and foremost the growth happened due to the opening of two brand new club shops, one of them in the historical center of St. Petersburg, redesign of their online shop, and much wider range of products. Also they've partnered with FC Zenit and reebok. Yeah, sure, people like Kovalchuk jerseys, but the jersey shopping culture in Russia isn't on that stage when people just collect jerseys of their favorite players. If they didn't have SKA jersery to begin with, I don't think that the lack of Kovalchuk's name would have stopped them from buying it.

That doesnt say anything about them continuing their growth in the same manner, with the ticket sales and all.

Although I think many clubs in Europe should copy SKA. CSKA and Dynamo and especially Ak-Bars(with embarrassing attendance) for example could use shops downtown and other forms of marketing that SKA uses.

That being said, not many clubs can finance these things. As positive as these earnings look, there are far greater expenses. Even for the adverising, shop rental, arena, show production, salaries of the staff just to name a few. Dont forget an aggressive budget for nothing less than top European players and coaches.
 

ult

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Sep 21, 2009
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That doesnt say anything about them continuing their growth in the same manner, with the ticket sales and all.

Although I think many clubs in Europe should copy SKA. CSKA and Dynamo and especially Ak-Bars(with embarrassing attendance) for example could use shops downtown and other forms of marketing that SKA uses.

That being said, not many clubs can finance these things. As positive as these earnings look, there are far greater expenses. Even for the adverising, shop rental, arena, show production, salaries of the staff just to name a few. Dont forget an aggressive budget for nothing less than top European players and coaches.

Actually that growth says a lot about their potential, which is immense. And ticket sales are not an option due to the different level of salaries, they can't squeeze 120 bucks per ticket out of ordinary people. And they've already reached 99% attendance.

And again, like I've already mentioned in my previous post, they already cover all their expenses on marketing, production, leases, etc. So yes, they spend a lot of money on all that stuff, but they earn even more. So others should strive for it, even if they will only break even at first.

Obviously player salaries are too big right now, but nonetheless, I'd say earning $15mln part of that enormous budget, without the TV money (which should be resolved in the near future) and sponsor contracts, is pretty damn good.
 

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