Pelicans earned their place in the finals, but as a result of their victory, the clubs will lose a total of hundreds of thousands of euros, writes HS reporter Mikko Pajala.
All it was as if perfectly prepared for the hockey league season to culminate in the local finals in Tampere.
Tappara and Ilves were supposed to play the best-of-seven final series for the Finnish championship in the country’s newest Areena. They were among the top teams in the series throughout the season: at the end of the regular season, Tappara was in first place, Ilves right behind in second place.
The Pelicans were not interested in the local finals.
The underdog defeated Ilves in the semifinals with a confusingly clear 4–2 win. The biggest surprise team of the season has now secured at least the silver medals at the WC.
The head coach Tommi Niemelän the team has undoubtedly earned its place in the finals, after all, before Ilves, it beat the already persistent KalPank in the quarter-finals in a high-quality match series. The Pelicans’ rather young and nameless team has been used to their maximum potential.
Niemelä has also shown that a successful coach can also smile. The modern approach to coaching can be seen in the general look of the Pelicans.
For the league and for domestic hockey, Pelicans’ place in the finals was inevitably disappointing.
The local finals in Tampere would have been a real puck charm. The 12,700-seat arena would have been sold out time after time, and all of Finland’s eyes would have been on Liiga hockey.
The league has been on a positive rise in recent years. The game in the rink is smart and of high quality. The Nokia Arena has created a fantastic setting for the two top teams, and the positive effect of Tampere’s puck boom has spread elsewhere. In addition, due to the current state of the KHL, Finland sees harder stars than before.
The Pelicans offer a nice underdog story, but it doesn’t arouse huge national interest.
Differential can also be seen directly in the clubs’ bank accounts. From the semifinals onward, the box office revenue of the playoffs is distributed according to ranking to all teams advancing to the playoffs.
The top ten teams will therefore be able to enjoy the box office revenue of the finals. Now that total pot will be significantly smaller.
After the latest audit calculation, the capacity of Isku-arena in Lahti was revealed to be 4,403 spectators. There were 12,700 spectators in the regular season local matches at the Nokia Arena.
The difference is therefore 8,297 places – more than the size of the Helsinki ice rink.
If the average price of an unsold ticket is calculated to be, say, 30 euros, you would miss almost a quarter of a million in box office revenue at each final hosted by the Pelicans.
If the series were to stretch to six matches, the difference would already be around 750,000 euros. The loss will only increase if all of Tappara’s home games do not fill the Tampere arena.
Even if the Pelicans’ place in the finals does not destroy any club’s finances, the “free” tens of thousands of euros would surely have tasted good.
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