Sure 5th place in the rankings is quite good, ahead of the not-bad Austrian league after all, but you don't hear teams that won the competition complain about how it didn't matter to them. Is it a secondary competition for as good as everyone involved? Of course. Much like the domestic cups in soccer. But if your fans prefer another game against Mountfield or even no hockey at all in the schedule then what you've got to do is to get out of the competition altogether and do just that. Or if you want a different kind of competition then tell how that should look like. Participating with modest success just to whine year after year how this didn't matter and how the very strong Extraliga is all we need is quite obnoxious.
To reply the bold part, I will use the words of the Czech hockey journalist who broke the story/interview with Sparta coach (
here): "Even before I heart off-record from clubs participating at CHL statements like
CHL is not attractive to fans, CHL does not work. As soon as I started recording the players, coaches, executives switched their mind, presenting one-sided opinion. They talked how interesting & positive the project is for them. Words about lacking of CHL authority & interest from fans have immediately disappeared somewhere." Ask yourself why THIS has happened to this journalist.
I could discuss the CHL history, its backround ... but I think you would not like it. Can I?
First and foremost, the CHL 2014 did not begin as ambition project with resources and power. It started as reaction to KHL. Euros needed to do something, even something not working. Just to stop KHL. The guys behind the CHL were not prepared for the project, they did not have TOP management behind them, they did not have money, they did not have a deep research. Nothing. They just hoped it will work somehow sometimes. As we can see after a decade it has never worked. They even did not realise that the IIHF international schedule will cause them problems! On this forum we have discsussed about it. They have all power within IIHF & doing nothing to change it! I know, not easy, but they do not even try. You can not sit on two chairs at the same time.
OK, I could accept all these, they need to start somehow, they need time. BUT. Their biggest mistake is to prefer ideology over business/sport. They do not try to create some sport league within hockey Europe, they try to promote their ideology. Just do your research on some personalities behind the project. They would like to bring a UEFA CL kind of competition to hockey, but they do not want a big business, big money to be invovled. Because, such money in sports is a bad thing. Here I can use a phrase from one hockey guy saying: "European hockey clubs/leagues are run by former hockey players while NHL clubs & NHL are run by business people."
You will again bring me some pictures with great fans. OK. Still I will say it again. You can not play a CHL game at secondary arena. That is not only about a capacity. It is about the fans. How can you bring the fans to arena if your arena is not good enough? Todays hockey is not only about a game, it is about game-day program inside & outside arena. Older & smaller arenas are not good enough for that. There is a reason why UEFA has some minimal standards on stadiums. I do remember, just a few yrs back, how some team was forced to play its home UEFA CL Q game outside its city, because stadium was not good enough!
I could go on & on with arguments, but I will stop here.
Like it or not, Europe´s future is not bright. The Europeans´ problem is degradation of the leadership is every segment of daily life, including sport executives. Remains to be seen what it will bring to CHL.
en.wikipedia.org
