The share price of the ice hockey SM league has been a hot topic for a long time. According to Ami Rubinstein, chairman of Kiekko-Espoo’s board, it is up to the League to tell.
Timo Uusitalo,
Samu Saatsi
Chairman of the board of Kiekko-Espoo Amy Rubinstein stressed at Tuesday’s press conference that the conditions set for it have been met and it can be said with certainty that the club will receive a league license.
In order to redeem a league place, Kiekko-Espoo must fulfill two conditions by the end of March. The club must gather a certain number of partnerships and make an agreement on how the league share will be redeemed.
According to Rubinstein, the chairman of the licensing committee Jaakko Luumi was a guest last Friday. At the same time, the club received confirmation that the partnership share has been fulfilled.
– The League will be played next season! The process has been gradual and a lot has happened. The waiting time is long, but there have been many things in the background that had to be prepared. The most important thing is that when we join the League, all things and their preparation have been done carefully. Now we can say that we are at that point, Rubinstein insists.
The price of the league share was kept silent
The price of the league share has been a hot topic since autumn.
Previously promoted to the League, Sport, KooKoo and Jukurit paid 1.8 million euros for the league share. According to Urheilu’s information, throughout the license process, Kiekko-Espoo has required that its application be evaluated according to previous criteria, i.e. in the same way as for Sport, KooKoo and Jukurie.
This fall, Jokeri was told the price was 3.8 million and TuTo 3.6 million. SM league chairman Heikki Hiltunen told that it was 3.67 million euros.
Rubinstein did not want to talk to Urheilu about the price of the Liiga share, but emphasized that it belongs to the Liiga to tell about it.
– In our opinion, the discussion about the league share has been constructive and good all along. Certainly, each party has different views and starting points, which is justified and reasonable. You still have to remember that the League is made up of 15 partners and everyone has their own say. Against this whole, we have lived very well in the dark. The end result reflects for everyone that it is good to move forward.
According to information from Ilta-Sanom the price of the league share is 2.1 million euros and a payment period of five years has been agreed upon.
The construction phase is hot in K-Espo
Rubinstein says that K-Espo had a reasonably ambitious goal, for example, in terms of which partners need to be brought on board by the end of March.
It was challenging, when the license is conditional, that the club got the partners to believe in what the people of Espoo are doing and commit to it.
– It’s great to see that we’ve been here a month ahead of schedule.
Rubinstein admits that the process was step-by-step and contained many events. According to him, the waiting time is long when there are many things in the background that had to be prepared.
K-Espoo still needs to build readiness to be able to play in the League next fall.
– In addition, together with the League, we will take the process to the finish line in terms of the League organizing a share issue for Kiekko-Espo, from which we will then acquire the league share and become part of the League’s operations, explains K-Espoo’s head man.
According to the club’s own announcement, Kiekko-Espo’s budget for this season in Mestis is 1.2-1.4 million euros. In the next season in the League, the aim is to raise the amount to around five and a half million euros.