Hamburg Freezers to leave DEL

GermanNuck

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Jun 15, 2011
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I was pretty shocked by the news a few minutes ago, but apparently the Anschutz-Group, which is also the owner of the Eisbären Berlin, wants to sell the club but wasn't able to find a buyer yet.

There are still 6 days left to find a possible candidate, but as of now the Freezers won't be playing the next season which is a major blow to the league in my opinion.

I haven't found an english source yet.
 

Zamboni Parade

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Mar 12, 2014
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Well that sucks. That was my team :(
That arena's going to be quite empty with both the hockey and handball teams folding.
I think the only DEL2 team that did all the necessary paperwork to take over is Bremerhaven, no idea if they've got enough time and money to field a competitive team though.
 

LemmyUlanov55

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Apr 3, 2016
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So the Hamburg Freezers might suffer the same trouble as the Munich Barons? I do feel sorry for their fans, since i'm from Rosenheim i know that too..
 

Sanderson

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Sep 10, 2002
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There is something very fishy about this.

It is true that Anschütz tried to sell the team in 2011, but when no buyer could be found, this activity stopped, and they made a clear announcement that a sale is off the table.

Now they suddenly announce one week before all the license-papers have to be send in that they couldn't find a buyer for years and thus the team will cease to exist. First, this comes as a surprise to the management of the team, which already said that they had absolutely no idea about any attempt to sale the team, and they ought to now, seeing how the person in charge of the team is also one of Anschütz' highest ranking personal in Germany. Second, this is something you should announce quite a bit earlier than one week before the deadline. It's kind of hard to find a possible buyer on such a short notice.

If they knew they needed a new owner or operations would cease, than they should have announced that months ago, not keep it a secret and go public right when time runs out.

Hamburg is really losing sport-teams left, right and center right now. First the Handball team, than the women's Volleyball team, and now the Freezers. That's three tier-1 teams in just a few months. Now all that is left in terms of bigger team-spots are the football teams, the tier-2 Basketball team and a bunch of teams in fieldhockey.
 

Zamboni Parade

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Mar 12, 2014
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Maybe they had a potential buyer but it didn't go through as planned for some reason so this is kind of a last ditch effort to put pressure on them. I dunno.
They were happily signing Buchwieser to an expensive multi-year contract only two weeks ago so either nobody cared or the finance department was up to some shady cloak and dagger stuff.
 

Maverick41

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I wonder how all the guys who signed with them, not just Buchwieser, but MacIntyre, Pelech, Körner and Kiefersauer (though the latter two would probably not have played on the DEL team anyway), feel about this.
Were they warned this may happen? If not, did the people who signed them and negotiated with their agents know this might happen?

I would assume they are all free to sign with other teams, if the club cannot keep up its part of the deal.

Update:
It really looks like Bremerhaven will try to make the move to the DEL: http://m.radiobremen.de/sport/eishockey/fischtownlizenz100.html (Source in German)
That would put either the DEL2 or the Oberliga Süd in a tricky situation. The teams of DEL2 have planned with 14 teams, now they might just have 13 which could screw up their finances. Maybe they will, for the second year in a row, allow relegated Heilbronn to remain in the league, but that would leave the Oberliga Süd with just 9 teams and probably no way to add another team for the coming season.
 
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GermanNuck

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Jun 15, 2011
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Maybe a Russian oligarch will buy the team and move it to the KHL.

I was thinking the exact thing.

Concerning adding Bremerhaven to the DEL: I have mixed feelings about this. I know that Bremerhaven is a hockey hotbed in the north, but I just can't imagine that they're up to the economical challenge. The gap between the DEL and DEL2 is quite big in financial terms.

You would think that in a city like Hamburg there would more potential investors.. Mr. Kühne isn't a hockey fan is he? :sarcasm:
 

Maverick41

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I was thinking the exact thing.

Concerning adding Bremerhaven to the DEL: I have mixed feelings about this. I know that Bremerhaven is a hockey hotbed in the north, but I just can't imagine that they're up to the economical challenge. The gap between the DEL and DEL2 is quite big in financial terms.

You would think that in a city like Hamburg there would more potential investors.. Mr. Kühne isn't a hockey fan is he? :sarcasm:

What I heard was that Bremerhaven, if they actually take the Freezer's spot, would plan with a 20% increase of their budget compared to DEL2.
In the ESBG forum someone said that EHN reported Bremerhaven with a budget of 2.9m € and an additional 20% would mean roughly 3.5m € for the DEL, which, I guess, would make them the team with the lowest budget in the DEL.

This whole thing will also adversely affect the DNL and Schüler BL, where the Freezers youth teams will probably fold as well since their partner HSV will not be able to afford the teams playing at the current level on their own.
 

GermanNuck

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their partner HSV will not be able to afford the teams playing at the current level on their own.

And that's the part when Kühne enters the room. :D

Nah honestly.. It's just a shame. It would be nice to see Frankfurt back in the DEL. I mean neither Bremerhaven or Frankfurt would have earned their spot in the DEL so it wouldn't matter anyways.
 

Maverick41

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And that's the part when Kühne enters the room. :D

Nah honestly.. It's just a shame. It would be nice to see Frankfurt back in the DEL. I mean neither Bremerhaven or Frankfurt would have earned their spot in the DEL so it wouldn't matter anyways.

I know it's in jest, but please no Kühne in hockey. I just strongly dislike this guy (this is me getting as close as I ever will to using the word hate in the context of sports).
I really don't want him anywhere near a sport I care about.
 

TorstenFrings

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Apr 25, 2012
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Maybe a Russian oligarch will buy the team and move it to the KHL.

The really weirdly kept saying the could not find an "appropriate" partner all the time in the press conference, so I am guessing there was interest in the team from somewhere.

The main asset to sell here is the DEL license (which the KHL wouldn't care about) though, they ruled out selling the arena and the KHL is apparently very particular about owning everything outright. Or they used to be when they were in talks with Dusseldorf's team.

Hamburg is really losing sport-teams left, right and center right now. First the Handball team, than the women's Volleyball team, and now the Freezers. That's three tier-1 teams in just a few months. Now all that is left in terms of bigger team-spots are the football teams, the tier-2 Basketball team and a bunch of teams in fieldhockey.

And this is a city that was trying to convince its citizens that it really cared about sports and would host an amazing Olympics half a year ago. :laugh: They also lost their Bundesliga women's soccer team 2 or 3 years ago, because HSV refused to find 100k for a license in their budget.

And that's the part when Kühne enters the room. :D

Nah honestly.. It's just a shame. It would be nice to see Frankfurt back in the DEL. I mean neither Bremerhaven or Frankfurt would have earned their spot in the DEL so it wouldn't matter anyways.

Kühne only cares about the HSV men's Bundesliga team and nothing else at all. HSV had to find another sugar daddy to finance their youth teams training center and the women's Bundesliga team had to fold over a missing 100k. He is no Dietmar Hopp and he won't care about this. If handball is anything to go by, neither will anyone else with enough money.

I'd love for Bremerhaven to get a shot at it though. :naughty:

Will the DEL play with 13 teams or will there be another club?

If no one else buys the license from AEG until May 24th, there will be a general licensing process for which teams can apply. The Fishtown Pinguin's manager already voiced interest. So it doesn't look like it's going to be the DEL that's one team short. DEL2 might be.
 

TorstenFrings

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There's talk about a possible stay of the relegated Heilbronner Falken in DEL 2 if Bremerhaven (or somebody else) takes over the DEL license.

I saw in Maverick41's comment above. The problem gets passed one league further down with that as well, but you are right. The main objective will most likely be to keep the DEL leagues both fully stocked.
 

Herman the German

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@ maverick 41,,,Were they warned this may happen? If not, did the people who signed them and negotiated with their agents know this might happen?

It goes to show you, agents in Germany, have no idea and you cannot take them serious. Important is signing players to fill their pockets a.s.a.p.
 

TorstenFrings

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Today (tuesday) is the last day a DEL license can be filed for on behalf of the Freezers, so if there is some investor or buyer coming in, we should be hearing about it today or tomorrow at the latest.
 

GermanNuck

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They're done. The management said they received no offer and they didn't apply for a license. Such a loss for Hamburg. :shakehead
 

S E P H

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What an ****in joke. I don't think they will be gone for long, but such a travesty that it had to come to this to begin with.
 

Zamboni Parade

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Mar 12, 2014
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They aren't coming back. The players are on the market, employees are being let go, the DEL licence is back in the hands of the league office and will most likely be grabbed by Bremerhaven (who really should use this opportunity to change their team name to something less silly :rolly:), and in any case they wouldn't have an arena to play in.
 

GermanNuck

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Jun 15, 2011
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They aren't coming back. The players are on the market, employees are being let go, the DEL licence is back in the hands of the league office and will most likely be grabbed by Bremerhaven (who really should use this opportunity to change their team name to something less silly :rolly:), and in any case they wouldn't have an arena to play in.

I was hoping for Frankfurt though. But The Fishtown Prenguins. :D Cringeworthy.
 

Maverick41

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I was hoping for Frankfurt though. But The Fishtown Prenguins. :D Cringeworthy.

If it was Fishtown Penguins it would still be bad, but that they decided to spell each word half German half English makes it even worse. I mean "Fischtown Pinguins"? Really?

But whatever, I just want to know as soon as possible how many, and which teams will be playing in the respective leagues.
 

TorstenFrings

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Huge props to Schubert though. Great Captain!

Truly a captain. He left the sinking ship last. Flaake apparently returned right after Worlds and helped out too.

They had a good group there it seems, which makes me a little sad for fans and players even though they aren't my favorite team.

What an ****in joke. I don't think they will be gone for long, but such a travesty that it had to come to this to begin with.

Why do you think so? They team economically made multi-million loses every season and any new team wouldn't even have an arena for DEL hockey, since that stays in the hands of AEG. It seems harder to revive them than it would have been to save them and that apparently was impossible.
 
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Sanderson

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Sep 10, 2002
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Hamburg, Germany
There was never any chance for this attempt to save the team to succeed. If there had been an interest in keeping the team alive, AEG wouldn't have announced all this less than seven days before the papers had to be handed in. The best bet is that with the Handball team already gone, they just decided that a complete overhaul in terms of arena-use would be the better alternative.

Just a few notes that Christoph Schubert had listed:
- 533k had been made through the crowd-funding campaign
- a total of 1.2 million Euro had been raised, including money from 20 different companies
- a new sponsor was prepared to pay 550k per year for ten years (on top of the 1.2 million)

Christoph Schubert can accomplish all that in a matter of days with the help of just a few people, and the freakin AEG cannot find a legitimate buyer for five years? nonsense.

The claim that they tried to sell for five yeas now is nothing but a lie. They publically announced that they weren't interested in selling anymore in 2012. They gave official word that they were very happy with the way the team was getting better and better financially, all that directly contradicts their claims. Not to mention that - as Schubert als mentions - hardly anyone in the sports business was aware that AEG tried to sell the Freezers, how can that be the case?

Simply put, they opted for a different approach with the arena and had to make up some sort of reason why they must let go of the hockey team.
 

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