Almost 5,000 spectators came to the demonstration stadium sprint. Jari-Pekka Jouppi, the commercial director of the skiing association, regretted the bad luck in the second event.
The Helsinki Ski Weeks event at the Olympic Stadium culminated in the stadium sprint event on Wednesday. However, the Olympic Stadium could have accommodated a lot more people, when the tops of Finland and the world met in a show-like event.
The event was organized for the second time. Last year, 8,000 people attended. The commercial director of the ski association Jari-Pekka Joupin according to this year’s audience was just under 5,000.
Jouppi regretted the bad luck in organizing the event.
– First there was a pandemic last year. Then came the omicron variant and on the same day as the stadium sprint, Russia attacked Ukraine, Jouppi regretted his bad luck.
– This year there was a recession and a train strike. Then in the afternoon it rained, when even the last ones were thinking about going to the event. It feels like there’s a curse on it. Next year, the Kenyan gorillas will probably attack Finland. This is terribly sad.
Jouppi was not able to say how much of a loss the event would be.
– We have nothing to worry about. Ruka and the Salpausselkä World Cup are the cornerstones of our economy, Joupppi stated.
According to him, audience income does not determine the financial result of the skiing event at the Olympic Stadium, but it is built on the funding of sponsors and partners.
– Otherwise, it would be bad for us. We had 2000 tickets less than the number of people who bought tickets. After the train strike on Friday, 1,700 tickets were canceled because the gang thought they wouldn’t be able to attend. We took an outrageous amount in the audience, Jouppi stated.
Only the main stand and the opposite stand were opened for the event.
Jouppi also reminded of the good atmosphere of the event. The commercial director of the skiing association gave an interview at the same time as the crowd cheered for the finalists of the women’s competition.
– Yes, these almost 5,000 people made a good cabin. If there were 20,000 people here, imagine what the feeling would be like? Jouppi threw.
In Stadionsprint, a ticket to the main stand cost 50 euros. You can get to the “former sun observatory” on the opposite side for 30 euros. According to Joup, the ticket prices are not expensive.
– We did a pretty big survey asking people what the right level of the ticket price is and how much they are willing to pay. I don’t know what to compare it to. This event had three hours of entertainment. If you compare it to a hockey game, we are not expensive. We are mid-priced, Jouppi said.
In addition to skiing, top category Finnish artists performed in the stadium sprint, Anna Abreu and Mikko Harju.
Jouppi also reminded that a large expense item comes from the rent of the Olympic Stadium. He could not say the exact amount due to contractual obligations, but stated that the amount was six figures.
– There are cheaper places to organize an event in Finland. But we want to be here. The strategy of the skiing association is that we want to make it possible for people to ski, Jouppi said and referred to Helsinki Ski Weeks, which lasted two and a half weeks in its entirety.
During that time, those who wanted could also go skiing at the Olympic Stadium.
– We wanted to be as central as possible. We’ve had about 50,000 people visit this. Last year, 74,000 people visited. That’s no mean feat. So this race is not the only thing. In fact, it’s even almost more important that we get people moving than the number of spectators here, Jouppi stated.
However, Jouppi was of the opinion that in the future, the stadium sprint should be used to build a third pillar for the Ski Federation next to the World Cup in Ruka and Salpausselä. The organizers plan to conduct a survey again and find out the experiences.
– This event must be more successful. Now that’s okay. Now, however, we need more income so that this becomes the cornerstone of our future, Jouppi concluded.
The men’s competition was won by a superstar Johannes Hösflot Kläbo. In the women’s category, the victory also went to Norway, when they crossed the finish line in first place Ane Appelkvist Stenseth. The Finns were the best Jasmi Joensuu in third place.