Helsinki | The “Hartwall arena” is going to be brought back to life – Paavo Arhinmäki explains the difficult challenge

Could you The sad story of the multi-purpose hall known as the Hartwall arena finally take a positive turn?

This question came up on Wednesday, when the Finnish media reported on a new attempt to get the Jokerit hockey team back on its feet.

The arena located in Ilmala has almost collapsed deserted since the beginning of March.

The reason is Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. As a result of the war, the Joker team stopped playing in the KHL league and the Russian oligarchs who own part of the Ilmala hall through their Arena Events company Roman Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko was placed on the blacklist. Around the same time, the beverage company Hartwall, which sponsored the hall, terminated its cooperation agreement with the hall company.

The latest twist in the saga happened on Wednesday when Joel Harkimo announced that he had bought the rights to Joker’s representative team with the aim of returning the club to playing condition.

However, according to HS sources, there seem to be difficulties ahead of the return of the Jokers. Joel Harkimon is known to have said that his financier would be primarily interested in playing the Jokers in the hall formerly known as the Hartwall arena.

“Joel said there is no option to keep the Jokers in the League unless the venue is the former Hartwall arena,” one of the sources said.

It is still unclear how the return to the Ilmala arena would be successful. HS could not reach Joel Harkimo to comment on the matter.

Read more: HS sources: Joel Harkimo called Laughing Narri and said he bought Jokerit from Jari Kurri

Helsinki deputy mayor for culture and leisure Paavo Arhinmäki (left) states that the city would naturally be satisfied with the opening of the Ilmala arena. However, how this would be possible is a puzzle even for Arhinmäki.

Currently, no one wants to use the hall for moral and ethical reasons. Therefore, the transfer of the arena to another owner seems to be practically the only option.

According to Arhinmäki, the city of Helsinki already found out in the spring whether it would be possible to get the arena located in Ilmala to other owners. From the city’s point of view, it would be very desirable to find a Finnish, credible and reliable owner for the arena.

Arhinmäki has not observed that the owners of the hall have shown enthusiasm to sell the hall. According to him, any sales revenue would be frozen due to the sanctions.

“Our understanding is that several parties have been interested in buying the arena in Ilmala,” says Arhinmäki.

Arhinmäki is also considering the option that the parliament would enact a law by which the property of the oligarchs could be taken over. According to him, this has been done in some European countries. For example, France has among other assets, dozens of properties owned by oligarchs were confiscated.

“However, the city has no authority for that. An international-class indoor arena would be useful for the event industry for the whole of Finland,” says Arhinmäki.

Read more: Tens of billions of euros worth of oligarchs’ assets were seized in France – including Roman Abramovich’s yacht, which changed hands on the first day of the war

Arhinmäki welcomes the Joker team back to Helsinki, albeit with reservations.

“Personally, I feel that if the Jokers want a credible new start, all connections to the KHL adventure must be severed,” says Arhinmäki.

If the ownership patterns of the Jokers can be clarified, the team could, according to Arhinmäki, return to play in Helsinki’s old ice rink on Nordenskiöldinkatu.

The city of Helsinki owns the ice rink, and in the name of equality, the Jokers should be allowed to play there under the same conditions as HIFK, which currently operates as a tenant in the rink.