The Turku Mestis club does not have any prerequisites to play in the SM league, but the license application puts the current main league clubs in a bad light, writes Vinski Virtanen.
Vinski Virtanen sports reporter
On Thursday, the public following hockey raised their eyebrows when the surprising news about Tuto’s league license application hit the airwaves.
Let’s say it straight away: Tuto does not have any prerequisites to play in the SM league, and the club itself does not believe that it will be promoted.
Back in December of last year, the Turku club was in such a cash crisis that it had to adapt its operations and gave up the CEO completely. The application should not be taken seriously.
The recent reform of the series system garnered praise, as the opening of the SM league has been awaited. Depending on the point of view, it can be considered a good or bad thing that the SM league opened Pandora’s box at the same time.
As expected, Kiekko-Espoo submitted its application and Jokerit is another clear applicant in the future. No one could wait for Tuto’s application.
The condition for obtaining a league license is that the club has evidence for a long time that the operation is financially profitable and the team has achieved sporting success.
With the audience numbers of Tuto’s home games (800−1500 excluding the Jokerit game), there is no chance of playing in the SM league, and there has been no success in Mestis. It is well known in Turku that even TPS does not gather the kind of interest in the main series that should be expected in the economic region of Northern Finland.
After Tuto’s application came, the conditions of the league license do not need a closer look, when the thought of how the SM League will justify keeping a few nakki kiosks in the main league inevitably comes to mind.
There is a huge gap in the level difference between Mesti and the SM league, so for example SaiPa’s game-like rumble in the main league will take years if the club stays afloat at all. Lappeenranta residents’ Wednesday announcement about the share issue does not bode well.
SaiPa’s operations, for example, currently do not meet the league’s requirements for success and finances.
“Liiga-SaiPa Oy’s previous fiscal years have been quite loss-making, due to lower-than-budgeted audience numbers and increased expenses over the years. Lower-than-targeted athletic success has had a negative impact on income streams,” reads SaiPa’s website.
According to Ernst & Young’s recent financial analysis, there are three clubs playing in the SM league with cash assets of less than 10,000 euros. These are SaiPa, JYP and HPK.
The qualifiers will return in the spring of 2025, but would there have been a place for a bigger request already? Of course, the shareholders of SM-liiga Oy did not allow it to happen.
It is known in Tuto that the number of viewers in SaiPa’s games will soon drop below 2,000, when the network of the wonder of the east has swayed 16 times in the last couple of games. Criticism is getting stronger.
Tuto is far from SM league level, but so are some league clubs.