According to an insider’s estimate, the Skiing Federation is making losses of 500,000–600,000 euros for the fiscal year ending. Of these, no fewer than 200,000 euros were caused by the sprint skiing event organized at the Olympic Stadium.
The Finnish Ski Federation announced in July sizeable economy corrective measures, which aim to achieve savings of around 350,000 euros by the end of the financial year that is ending.
The selection of means included e.g. change negotiations and layoffs of permanent staff. Commercial director of the association Jari-Pekka Jouppi to stop working in the organization during the fall with a severance package in hand. Also finance manager Kaija Oksanen leave the Ski Association during the fall.
However, a hot question has been what kind of loss figures the Ski Federation and its commercial company Nordic Ski Finland will make in the fiscal year ending on October 31. The union’s accounting period was previously June 1–31. May, but in the future it starts at the beginning of November and ends at the end of October. The ongoing transition period will thus be 17 months long.
The leading chairman plays a big role in the ski association’s financial negotiations Markku Haapasalmi was unwilling to take a stand on the matter on Monday and appealed to its incompleteness.
– I don’t want to comment or evaluate any magnitudes, because the situation lives on all the time and the numbers are getting more detailed.
Not in the millions
However, Urheilu reached another Hiihtoliito insider, who agreed to comment. He did so anonymously due to the nature of the matter.
– If and when there have been rumors of even millions of losses, then there is no basis in them. At the moment, it seems that the losses will be in the range of 500,000–600,000 euros. Both the Hiihtoliitto ry and Nordic Ski Finland are involved in it.
In any case, the loss is very large. According to the person interviewed by Urheilu, there are several factors behind it. He says that on a general level, the sales team that trades the union’s visibility has been more successful in its work than the team that had to control the expenses and the use of money.
Chairman Haapasalmi also spoke about the background of the loss figures. A very large part of the minus sign was born in one single evening, March 22, 2023. That was when the Helsinki Ski Weeks international sprint competition was skied at the Olympic Stadium, with Norway as the star guest. Johannes Hösflo Kläbo.
– Stadionsprint’s weak audience success alone caused a loss of around 200,000 euros. And our audience target (8,000) wasn’t even overly optimistic, says Haapasalmi.
Does not affect the MM search
Helsinki Ski Weeks, organized twice at the Olympic Stadium, turned out to be too financially burdensome an operation for the Ski Federation in the heart of the capital. The continuation of the event on a smaller scale has been discussed with Tampere and Helsinki.
In March, the financial statements are approved by the Federation Council of the Ski Federation.
The Ski Federation is applying for the 2029 World Championships in Lahti. Haapasalmi assures that the events of the ending fiscal year will not affect the search, in which Lahti is currently the only city involved.
Extending the union’s fiscal year is related to, for example, to the fact that in the future, the union will be able to predict the economy more precisely. In the previous fiscal year, we had to make heavy investments in the spring, for example for national team activities, without knowing how much money is actually available for the next season.