Great Britain: EIHL 2020-2021

Theokritos

Global Moderator
Apr 6, 2010
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4,911
No go-ahead for British ice hockey as of now. English Ice Hockey Associaton statement:

"In yesterday’s government update (23rd June), we did not get the go-ahead for indoor facilities such as ice rinks to reopen as was initially advised by DCMS. We will therefore remain in Phase 1 of our Return to Play plan for the foreseeable future until rinks are able to reopen."

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GBHockey

Registered User
Jun 2, 2018
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114
I don't see the season going ahead if I'm completely honest. I'd like to be wrong but I'll be surprised if we do get a season.

No team in the league can survive without decent crowds so playing behind closed doors is an absolute no-go.

I imagine there will be less players willing to come to the UK considering how poor we have dealt with the virus, and I don't think American residents will be allowed into the UK/Europe unless they are quarantined for two weeks which I'd expect to cause issues.

I think come autumn/fall the country will be in a fragile state and not know what to do when people start catching common colds and the seasonal flu so I expect either another lockdown or lockdowns imposed upon cities with rapidly growing case numbers etc.

There's also the rules each respective nation decides to impose. England's have been the most loose, with Wales and Scotland stricter, that could cause issues for travelling teams and fans.

There were rumours last week that Neil Black (Panthers and Clan owner) doesn't support the 2020/21 season and part of me feels Belfast are being extremely quiet for a similar reason.
 

Theokritos

Global Moderator
Apr 6, 2010
12,538
4,911
I don't see the season going ahead if I'm completely honest. I'd like to be wrong but I'll be surprised if we do get a season.

I too hope you're wrong, but thanks for the UK perspective.

I imagine there will be less players willing to come to the UK considering how poor we have dealt with the virus, and I don't think American residents will be allowed into the UK/Europe unless they are quarantined for two weeks which I'd expect to cause issues.

In Switzerland people arriving from the USA and Sweden also have to spend time in quarantine, but obviously Switzerland is one of the most attractive hockey leagues in Europe and they allow fewer foreign players in the first place, so they won't be affected as much.

There were rumours last week that Neil Black (Panthers and Clan owner) doesn't support the 2020/21 season and part of me feels Belfast are being extremely quiet for a similar reason.

Interesting.
 

Theokritos

Global Moderator
Apr 6, 2010
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4,911


Kelman told BBC Wales if Devils "can't have crowds of 3,000 then we can't have a season. We can't exist behind closed doors. I think any team would put their losses between £100k to £200k, maybe £300k for some of the biggest clubs based on the home gates." In Cardiff Devils' case around 75% of their income comes from ticket sales with the remaining 25% from sponsorship, advertising and merchandise sales. "We're all waiting to hear more information on a weekly basis. We have a plan A, B, C, D and maybe a plan E, and plan E is maybe the one you don't want to talk about. We're very hopeful that there will be a season and the good thing is that if we start late we can finish late, and if we have to play a shortened season we'll play a shortened season. We're very committed to having hockey of some sort."
 

Theokritos

Global Moderator
Apr 6, 2010
12,538
4,911


The JNL Bracknell Complex, operated by John Nike Leisuresport Ltd announced on Tuesday morning they would be closing, because of the hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement, the company announced: "The employee representatives and John Nike Leisuresport Limited have agreed that a financially viable plan to keep the Bracknell Complex could not be found." Bees director Stuart Robinson: "The Bees have been making positive progress in finding a home for the 2020/21 season and beyond and we will make further announcements shortly."
 

Rigafan

Registered User
Jul 28, 2016
902
195
Europe
@Theokritos nice to see somebody keeping the UK section updated, it will definitely be an interesting scenario.

Todd Kelman is correct, teams cannot play with no fans or with social distancing restrictions in place, they will lose too much income and a lot of teams barely finish each season as it is. There are options but the league isn't the most forward thinking, so they will probably not be looked at - a simple one might be... play this 'season' whatever it ends up being with much less or no import players? BUT as much as people moan and argue they want 'more British players' - if a team ran with no imports people just wouldn't turn up and definitely wouldn't pay the £20 ticket prices too see 'that level' on display - so a catch 22 maybe.

If they decide to not play this season I can see that causing trouble still for some teams anyway as the league is in no position to fund anybody through any crisis, they will just vanish.

The other issue will be, OK the government said ice rinks can open 1st August, lets say the season goes ahead, the teams will splash the cash and spend their money and then lockdown wave 2 happens - this would probably bankrupt the whole league! So they need to be very careful what they decide to do here.

With Cardiff I'm not surprised Lord left, he's done everything he can do in the EIHL so why not take what is going to be a payrise and improve his CV back home?

Ben O'Connor - interesting scenario, has he found a contact in a better league that is going to go ahead this season? He should try his hand elsewhere but most likely her will sign with Cardiff or Nottingham for the easy payday once the EIHL decides what to do. I had it on good info that he was earning £1,400 per week at Sheffield and this was a few seasons back so it might have even increased, that is a lot of salary for the EIHL so only a few teams could even consider it.
 

Theokritos

Global Moderator
Apr 6, 2010
12,538
4,911
@Theokritos nice to see somebody keeping the UK section updated, it will definitely be an interesting scenario.

Thanks. Yes, it will be.

With Cardiff I'm not surprised Lord left, he's done everything he can do in the EIHL so why not take what is going to be a payrise and improve his CV back home?

I'm just surprised that he didn't get an attractive gig somewhere in Europe, for example in the DEL. Apparently he did have two offers from Austria, one as head coach of HC Innsbruck (not very promising and financially unattractive) and one as assistant coach of EC RB Salzburg (financially attractive, but not a head coach job).
 

Rigafan

Registered User
Jul 28, 2016
902
195
Europe
Thanks. Yes, it will be.



I'm just surprised that he didn't get an attractive gig somewhere in Europe, for example in the DEL. Apparently he did have two offers from Austria, one as head coach of HC Innsbruck (not very promising and financially unattractive) and one as assistant coach of EC RB Salzburg (financially attractive, but not a head coach job).

Salzburg would be an attractive choice surely? And true as there were 2 other EIHL coaches who went over to the DEL./DEL2. Maybe given the current covid situation he wanted to be closer to home incase it gets worse again.
 

TheWhiskeyThief

Registered User
Dec 24, 2017
1,625
496

I guess the concept of doing barter deals with local digital TV services is beyond the pale.

Guildford, Cardiff, Manchester, Belfast, Sheffield and Nottingham all have those types of channels available on Freeview(Coventry could do Birmingham and the Scottish teams could use the Scottish one) and the lack of advertising restrictions for those channels means you can sell NHL style levels of inventory(even if they stuck to Ofcom rules they could get 6 breaks in a game.)

The channels don’t show much of anything so could use the free programming.

Production costs are so much cheaper than they used to be, could all be produced in house then the feed sent via IP to the station.
 

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