Vision is brave and the goal extremely ambitious. Puna-Mustat plans to play in the men’s Superpes at the new stadium in 2027 and be the country’s biggest baseball club in 2030.
Although baseball has a long tradition in the capital, the years of success are so far away that the plan sounds like it was meant to be announced on April 1st.
However, it is not an April Fool’s joke, but the sights are aimed with real purpose. It is planned to take the step from the Suomensarja to the First Division already in the summer.
“We have built the whole club in a balanced way, and this year’s team should be on paper at the strongest end”, the president of Puna-Musti Juho Juhantalo tells.
The club has been preparing for a new rise for a few years. The foundation has been laid through junior work, and the club’s culture and identity are built piece by piece.
“I came back to PuMuu 2021 and noticed that there really aren’t any structures. I immediately set out to collect funding and create a strategy for junior activities with the help of the Päsäpalliito and experts in the sport.”
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“We have built the whole club in a balanced way.”
To his home nest The home field of Puna-Musti, which is held in the Meilahti sports park, is, to put it nicely, a modest arena. Juhantalo has not yet revealed what kind of vision the club has for the new stadium.
“I don’t want to start it on that foot. We are in the investigation phase and we want to have a broad dialogue with the whole of Meilahti and, more broadly, the municipalities and communities of Munkkiniemi and Töölö,” he says.
“On the other hand, we have had a really good dialogue with the city about the right place, and Meilahti has been found to be the most feasible with this schedule.”
Juhantalo acknowledges the project’s ambition, but in the same breath reminds us of the master plan already approved in 1994, where a baseball stadium is planned for Meilahti’s sports park.
“It gave us the courage to come out with a schedule. We think about the whole thing more broadly than baseball and we want the sports park to serve children, young people, families with children and active people as widely as possible.”
HS told about the project 30 years ago, on May 20, 1994. A 2,000-seat stadium was planned for Meilahti, with the home base at the other end of the field than it is now.
Read more: Pesisstadion still in the running for Meilahti – the Kaisaniemi plan will shrink the project
Red-Black with 330 licensed players, is the ninth largest home club in Finland. It has tripled the number of its junior teams since 2021.
At the same time, the turnover of the entire club has grown from 80,000 euros to 400,000 euros. It has required hard work, even though the junior teams bring a big amount to the pot.
“The budget of one junior team is roughly ten tons, and there are more than ten of them. By the way, I’m not going to break it down here, but the truth is that it’s hard work,” says the chairman.
Juhantalo brings know-how from the business world to the company. He works as a business manager at Google and helps Northern European companies grow globally.
“We wanted to bring a similar growth mentality to the club, and it has gotten off to a good start. We have been able to increase the number of juniors and players and renew the club from the ground up.”
Among other things, PuMu elected its new board of directors Timo Hakkarainenwho is one of the founders of the staffing company Bolt Works and has long been influential in management positions in the financial sector Sameli Mäenpää.
Fnnish baseball needs the capital city more than Helsinki needs baseball. According to Juhantalo, Puna-Musti’s work has brought people who believe that baseball and Helsinki belong together.
Eastern Helsinki is the kingdom of the Roihuttari who play for the women’s Superpes in Roihuvuori, but otherwise PuMu’s observations tell of a vacuum in grassroots activities.
“We have then created low-threshold concepts. This spring, nesting schools and litter boxes were published in 14 regions. The goal at the end of this year is a couple of hundred [junioria] and the goal is 2030”, says Juhantalo.
Puna-Musat has strengthened its finances by diversifying its business sales and services. In the background of the representative team, there are sources of income from fitness centers to wellness services.
“We have seen that there is a large group of companies and supporters here who see the same need. Our national game must be returned to Helsinki”, says Juhantalo.
He adds that the club has progressed in a balanced way in the scope and scope of its activities every year. The whole gives faith that PuMu can continue its growth career.
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“Our national game must be returned to Helsinki.”
Rise Puna-Musti, who celebrated the men’s WC gold in 1973, would be the first men’s team from Helsinki to reach the main league since Helsinki-Pesis.
Helsinki-Pesis rose to the championship series in the fall of 1977 and was immediately relegated at the end of the 1978 season. Kaisaniemi Tiikerit, which was promoted directly to Superpesis after its foundation, was alive in the seasons 1997–1998 and died.
This season, PuMu is linked to Superpesis Jere Dahlström’s through. Dahlström, 43, who returned to the field after a gap year, is second in the batting statistics of all time, a four-time batting king and the fall 2010 Finnish champion.
“We came to an understanding with Jere quite quickly. Regarding my own congregation, it was more work to keep them involved, what does it mean when a big name is brought to a big church”, says Juhantalo.
He played against Dahlström for the first time at the age of 16. The future striker has also played in Kankaanpää, where Juhantalo is from.
“Jere has definitely brought credibility to this operation and leadership within the team itself. With his own experience, he has created faith in the team and the whole club, that we will move forward.”
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