A drastic change has been seen in Superpesis – contracts with new clubs are made even before the start of the season | Sport

Superpesis player budgets have grown a lot in recent years and top players sign contracts even earlier. At the end of the season, tells what is being talked about in baseball.

– That kind of nesting drug from the old days is definitely back, Urheilu’s expert Antti Yli-Saunamäki line.

The baseball season ended at the weekend, when Sotkamon’s Jymy celebrated the men’s Superpesis championship.

In the women’s and men’s Superpesis, the biggest strength is currently consistency. In the women’s and especially the men’s series, there were several candidates for success and champions in the season that just ended.

– Basically, there are several potential champion teams and the public has found the stands very well in, for example, Tampere, says Yli-Saunamäki.

Pesihuma and the potential of several teams can also be seen in the player market. Especially in the men’s Super Pes, contracts with new teams are already being twisted for the 2026 season.

– It is by no means good for the clubs that contracts are made beyond the playing season. Time will tell what it will lead to, says Yli-Saunamäki.

In women, not as early

In practice, the contracts of top men’s players are concluded about a year before the end of the contract. In the fall, there are only individual players without a contract.

In women, the situation is not quite similar, although the direction is the same.

– In the case of women, they agree on early summer and midsummer. The situation is by no means as blatant.

Honorable junior work

Sports expert Sami-Petteri Kivimäki does not consider the trend ideal, but the market has driven to the current situation. There are too few players in baseball who significantly affect power relations.

– The importance of these players is a little too great in the clubs’ world of thought. Maybe you should be able to turn your attention to your own junior work and start developing players in your own club, says Kivimäki.

– For example, Jymy won the championship so that they had players in key roles who came from their own pipeline, he continues.

According to Yli-Saunamäki, a few clubs started fishing for players very early on, after which other clubs had to respond. Partly as a result of this, player budgets have also increased.

Yli-Saunamäki describes that the budgets of many men’s Superpesis clubs have even doubled in five years.

– You really don’t want to get the best of Finland moved from one place to another for less than 50,000 euros.

In the women’s Superpes, the situation is similar. The best players are currently offered similar compensation to the best men’s around five years ago.

– We are already talking about 25,000–30,000 euros, which of course means a certain kind of professionalism in women as well. The change in a few years has been really drastic.

Will the clubs’ wallets hold up?

Kivimäki is worried about whether the players’ salary requests will remain within the limits of the clubs’ carrying capacity.

– Will they remain realistic? That is one thing that can result from this in a negative direction.

Kivimäki reminds again of his own player production. He raises, for example, Manse PP, which has been successful in recent years, but at the same time invested in its own junior work.

Slowly, the first talented young players have started to emerge from the pipeline. That’s why Kivimäki hopes that the clubs understand the possibilities of their own junor work.

– Roope Korhonen of course carried Jymy and they acquired a few players from outside. But the body came from the club.

He reminds me of “playing for the logo”, so to speak.

– There is certainly a place and a time for acquisitions, but with our own growths, we preserve the fact that we are playing for a common cause and for the club. I would think about this question in clubs.