KHL Expansion part II

[Eidyia]

Maybe this could put some speed at some kind of Euro league? Jokerit rivals HIFK already commented that they have their eyes firmly towards west, Nordics and have no plans at joining KHL.

TPS, Tappara and Kärpät all said the same. So all the remaining big clubs seems to have an understanding.

But so did Jokerit a year ago, so who knows.

 

[QnebO]

TPS, Tappara and Kärpät all said the same. So all the remaining big clubs seems to have an understanding.

But so did Jokerit a year ago, so who knows.

I think Harkimo wanted to move forward with Jokerit organisation times ago, and was towards the western conclusion first, but 10 years passed and no one really got nothing done, while KHL is getting it done. I understand he's decision. Jokerit had grown too great organisation for it's current league, had too great position to start from to wait another 10 years.

 

[Eidyia]

Harkimo wanted to go forward and was towards the western conclusion first, but 10 years passed and no one really got nothing done, while KHL is getting it done. I understand he's decision. Jokerit had grown too great organisation for it's current league, had too great position to start from to wait another 10 years.

"Too great organization" for SM-liiga: One (1!) championship in the last 11 years with the biggest budget, biggest arena and biggest attendances every year.

Yeah, they surely had grown too big for SM-liiga.

 

[vorky]

You can't ever be sure about anything with Harkimo.

Maybe this could put some speed at some kind of Euro league? Jokerit rivals HIFK already commented that they have their eyes firmly towards west, Nordics and have no plans at joining KHL. How weird it would be to have example HIFK playing in some kind Euro league and Jokerit in a KHL. Both from a same city.
Probably in a longer run one or the another would need to dominate.

I dont know... I would understand these words as political speech.. what should HIFK others say? Maybe there are negotiations of these clubs towards KHL, but they can not comment it now.. A few days ago, there was meeting of ET club in Prague. I am sure the deal (Jokerit joining KHL) was done for 90% or more. Why did not Jokerit announce joining KHL at this ET meeting???? .... because they could not!!! The same can be with Kärpät, IFK etc.. I have no info and no idea.. just a weird theory.

As I understand, Harkimo and Jokerit are/was the most pro-intenational-competition/leagues entities in Finland??? Harkimo said at presser that he tried to create Euro league but failed. What finnish clubs/owners are pro-international-leagues? Yes, they can be pro-ET/west-league today, as Jokerit was in past, but KHL can lure them... because, KHL has money (ET not) and Jokerit! Yes, Jokerit can play KHL and HIFK etc some euro leagues, but all finnish players would like to play for Jokerit, not HIFK, because Jokerit will have much more money (because of KHL) ... not good signal for HIFK etc. If you dont believe me, look at czech league.. nobody wants to play for czech clubs, but for Lev Praha... or for Sparta Praha because Sparta has the same owner as Lev, so players can move from Sparta to Lev (Sevc case next season, he came back to czech league because of Lev/KHL, not because of czech league, he has two-way KHL deal with Lev)

 

[QnebO]

"Too great organization" for SM-liiga: One (1!) championship in the last 11 years with the biggest budget, biggest arena and biggest attendances every year.

Yeah, they surely had grown too big for SM-liiga.

Hah, but they have the potentional for more. Obviousely they operated with one of the highest budgets but nothing uncommon. But them, unlike others, hold most potentional to grow even more.

 

[Eidyia]

Hah, but they have the potentional for more. Obviousely they operated with one of the highest budgets but nothing uncommon. But them, unlike others, hold most potentional to grow even more.

Yeah, sure. I'm sad to see them leave and I hope all the best.

But to say that they outgrow SM-liiga is just ridiculous.

 

[Tissotti]

I dont know... I would understand these words as political speech.. what should HIFK others say? Maybe there are negotiations of these clubs towards KHL, but they can not comment it now.. A few days ago, there was meeting of ET club in Prague. I am sure the deal (Jokerit joining KHL) was done for 90% or more. Why did not Jokerit announce joining KHL at this ET meeting???? .... because they could not!!! The same can be with Kärpät, IFK etc.. I have no info and no idea.. just a weird theory.

As I understand, Harkimo and Jokerit are/was the most pro-intenational-competition/leagues entities in Finland??? Harkimo said at presser that he tried to create Euro league but failed. What finnish clubs/owners are pro-international-leagues? Yes, they can be pro-ET/west-league today, as Jokerit was in past, but KHL can lure them... because, KHL has money (ET not) and Jokerit! Yes, Jokerit can play KHL and HIFK etc some euro leagues, but all finnish players would like to play for Jokerit, not HIFK, because Jokerit will have much more money (because of KHL) ... not good signal for HIFK etc. If you dont believe me, look at czech league.. nobody wants to play for czech clubs, but for Lev Praha... or for Sparta Praha because Sparta has the same owner as Lev, so players can move from Sparta to Lev (Sevc case next season, he came back to czech league because of Lev/KHL, not because of czech league, he has two-way KHL deal with Lev)

You are very much right with that. Harkimo has indeed been very pro-intenational and like QnebO said, Harkimo has no doubt tried to get that Euro league up and running behind the doors for long time before he possibly got this offered and took it.
In relative terms Jokerit is a new team, while HIFK is the oldest SM-liiga team that has probably the most loyal fans. They are also planning new Helsinki Garden +10 000 seater in the Helsinki center. Judging how example HIFK are commenting I don't doubt they really do want the Euro league to happen, rather than joining KHL. If they were middle of a making a deal with KHL, they had likely said something else.

With this Jokeri move that Euro league needs to happen sooner or later or there wont be room for it anymore.

Hah, but they have the potentional for more. Obviousely they operated with one of the highest budgets but nothing uncommon. But them, unlike others, hold most potentional to grow even more.

I do agree with that, not with the statement of them outgrowing from SM-liiga. Their budget has been one of the largest, but not the largest every year and result wise they haven't done all that great.
Though out of all teams, they are no doubt the best fit for KHL imo. I could also see Espoo Blues as one more candidate some day.

 

[WildFinn*]

People are so out of it here.

Harkimo did this because in reality he is no Trump.
The guy is an total idiot, just listen to when he speaks.
The arena was not doing well and we all know how the team was run before Kekäläinen..

Harkimo is related to Hackman family and went to Hanken, nothing more is needed to "make it" in Helsinki..
Being a real estate developer in Helsinki does not require much brain, more like connections.

He was just very lucky to find billionaires with extra money to play with.

Im sure bank and friends said to Harkimo its time to let go, he was extremely lucky with this deal.

 

[etzav]

Read 5-6 last pages and to add those rumours here's an article from year ago talking about the Medvedev's 64 team league setup:

http://www.iihf.com/en/channels1112/hockeyforum/news/news-singleview/recap/7042.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=6515&cHash=8650fcfe98

But what Medvedev sees in the future is mind-boggling in size and scope, unlike anything anyone else in the room could possibly conceive or comprehend.

He sees the KHL’s expansion to consume all of Europe, with one KHL Conference in and around Russia and a European Conference with a Scandinavian Sub-Conference (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway) and a Central European Sub-Conference (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, France, Italy, Great Britain, Netherlands, Belgium).

In all, he sees 64 teams in two conferences of 32 teams.

 

[Jussi]

People are so out of it here.

Harkimo did this because in reality he is no Trump.
The guy is an total idiot, just listen to when he speaks.
The arena was not doing well and we all know how the team was run before Kekäläinen..

Harkimo is related to Hackman family and went to Hanken, nothing more is needed to "make it" in Helsinki..
Being a real estate developer in Helsinki does not require much brain, more like connections.

He was just very lucky to find billionaires with extra money to play with.

Im sure bank and friends said to Harkimo its time to let go, he was extremely lucky with this deal.

Bare in mind that Harkimo made 280 million euros in stock options a couple of years ago so it's not like he's broke or anything. But like I've said before, Hartwall Areena hasn't been profitable during it's existence and that's why the previous majority owners Sanoma Oy sold their shares to Hjallis.

 

[BalticWarrior]

 

[etzav]

...

It´s not going to be easy to sell tickets (for example) Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk game to Finnish audience. Most of the teams and the players are never heards to most and selling "stars" like Jori Lehterä isn´t going to work. This is going to need lot of campaigns to convince Finnish how great KHL is. And how Jokerit=Finland

hey hey hey! These guys are our (finnish people) relatives! Well, maybe not the players..

Watching the serie suomen sukuiset 30 päivässä you'll learn that the ethnic Hanti and Mansi people from this area have the same ancestors from the ural mountain as us finns! =)

Quick glance on their roster, it seems that their assistant captain Evgeny Khvostov is from Surgut, so he could be an ethnic Hanti, as Surgut is an old hanti city..

 

[Sucro]

hey hey hey! These guys are our (finnish people) relatives! Well, maybe not the players..

Watching the serie suomen sukuiset 30 päivässä you'll learn that the ethnic Hanti and Mansi people from this area have the same ancestors from the ural mountain as us finns! =)

Quick glance on their roster, it seems that their assistant captain Evgeny Khvostov is from Surgut, so he could be an ethnic Hanti, as Surgut is an old hanti city..

Be free to take Yugra to SM-liiga as a compensation for Jokerit

 

[Jussi]

About Jokerit budget in KHL, Rotenberg said they will only assist in small portions, Harkimo will have to find the big sponsors himself.

 

[Finnpin]

About Jokerit budget in KHL, Rotenberg said they will only assist in small portions, Harkimo will have to find the big sponsors himself.

Where did you read that?

If the Russians will own 49% of the team I wonder what their "small portions" might be.

Here Harkimo said that he has already got call from one sponsor about KHL but the focus is at SM-liiga now

http://www.marmai.fi/uutiset/hjallis+harkimo+khl+tuo+sponsoreillle+valtavat+mahdollisuudet/a2192875

 

[Jussi]

Where did you read that?

If the Russians will own 49% of the team I wonder what their "small portions" might be.

Here Harkimo said that he has already got call from one sponsor about KHL but the focus is at SM-liiga now

http://www.marmai.fi/uutiset/hjallis+harkimo+khl+tuo+sponsoreillle+valtavat+mahdollisuudet/a2192875

Either today's Ilta-sanomat paper version or somewhere at Jatkoaika, I can't remember anymore.

That link by the way says, that Jokerit budget will double, possibly triple. SO it's not sure those fantasy line ups some have been spreading have any chance of coming through. Article also says they'll lose at least one sponsor in Fonecta who operate only in Finland and therefore are not interested in foreign market.

 

[Finnpin]

That link by the way says, that Jokerit budget will double, possibly triple. SO .

Harkimo has in every media talked about triple. That article about doubling is the first time I hear/read it...could be false as marmai is writing about something that has been in Kauppalehti.

But again nice try by you searching mostly negative things to post.

But of course all depends what sponsors Harkimo gets and how much the russians will give those "small portions" funding.

Triple would be awesome, double meh.

 

[Jussi]

Harkimo has in every media talked about triple. That article about doubling is the first time I hear/read it...could be false as marmai is writing about something that has been in Kauppalehti.

But again nice try by you searching mostly negative things to post.

But of course all depends what sponsors Harkimo gets and how much the russians will give those "small portions" funding.

Triple would be awesome, double meh.

Harkimo said they'd need to double or triple the budget, whether he can achieve that is another matter.

 

[vorky]

As I see the situation. Timchenko/Rotenberg are close to Gazprom. Jokerit is "pearl" of KHL. KHL will give Jokerit as example for other euro clubs.. "look at Jokerit, they are just fine in KHL, the product on and off ice is great... do you want to join us (KHL)?" The same case is Lev Praha. KHL wants to lure more euro clubs. How they achieve it? If euro clubs see poor Jokerit or good one? And, if you want to be "good" in KHL, you need more than 20M euro.

 

[Finnpin]

Voting at Finnish hockey forum Jatkoaika:

http://keskustelu.jatkoaika.com/showthread.php?t=55999

"Are you interested in KHL-Jokerit?"

Yes (I'm Jokerit fan) = 36 (16.59%)
Yes (I'm not Jokerit fan) = 73 (33.64%)
No (I'm Jokerit fan) = 6 (2.76%)
No (Im not Jokerit fan) = 102 (47%)

That's not much of votes but it's good to see that 73 person that aren't Jokerit fans have voted yes and most of Jokerit fans have voted yes.

 

[Jussi]

Voting at Finnish hockey forum Jatkoaika:

http://keskustelu.jatkoaika.com/showthread.php?t=55999

"Are you interested in KHL-Jokerit?"

Yes (I'm Jokerit fan) = 36 (16.59%)
Yes (I'm not Jokerit fan) = 73 (33.64%)
No (I'm Jokerit fan) = 6 (2.76%)
No (Im not Jokerit fan) = 102 (47%)

That's not much of votes but it's good to see that 73 person that aren't Jokerit fans have voted yes and most of Jokerit fans have voted yes.

I already referenced that poll here (and the Facebook one with different results): http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=68250951&postcount=153

 

[Finnpin]

I already referenced that poll here (and the Facebook one with different results): http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=68250951&postcount=153

So? it's in different thread.

 

[Jussi]

So? it's in different thread.

 

[Vicente]

I guess after short time there will be rivalries with teams like SKA St. Petersburg, Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Lev Prague, Slovan Bratislava etc. and only few Jokerit fans will really miss SM-liiga.

And neutral fans can also be won as Jokerit would be more or less like a national team representing Finland on international level (KHL).

 

[Jussi]

I guess after short time there will be rivalries with teams like SKA St. Petersburg, Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Lev Prague, Slovan Bratislava etc. and only few Jokerit fans will really miss SM-liiga.

And neutral fans can also be won as Jokerit would be more or less like a national team representing Finland on international level (KHL).

Not really, there's so much hate towards Jokerit in Finland that it won't suddenly change. People would more likely root for Jokerit opponents.