According to Tappara’s CEO Mika Aro, this season has already shown that the new arena is a big opportunity to take the business forward in the coming years.
28.4. 11:49 • Updated Apr 28th. 13:14
Tappara can decide the Finnish championship in the fifth Finnish Championship League final on Thursday against TPS. Puheen’s Hockey Tour will follow the match from 6 p.m. Tappara leads the series with 3-1 victories.
CEO of Tappara, the Finnish Hockey Championship Mika Aro can win his first championship on Thursday. However, this was not the top in the CEO’s mind in the previous match in Turku on Tuesday.
– I have learned over the years that you have to go game by game. Even more tense is that the players are not injured, the audience gets well into the hall, the parking lots pull and more. Here he has learned to be cynical and looked at more practical arrangements, Aro tells Sport.
Would you intentionally lose to get one more home game?
– Yes, not guaranteed. The championship is such a thing that you can’t play with them. It may be decades of work behind us to even get to where we are now. We do our best to win every match, Aro assures.
Aro’s heart has been especially warmed by the way the supporters have been involved in the matches in both halls. In Turku, both games have had more than 10,000 spectators. Tampere, on the other hand, had 12,075 spectators on Monday, which is a new audience record in the history of the playoffs in Tampere.
Tickets for the fifth final were sold out in ten minutes.
– It does heat up a lot. Towards the end of February, there was still a really big question mark on how the public would find the corona back in the arenas. It was by no means taken for granted. Fortunately, the people of Tampere have been good at both us and Ilves. Viewers have also been mobilized in other places, such as Turku, Aro praises.
Tappara and Ilves moved to the new Tampere arena in early December. According to Aro, this season has already shown that the new arena is a great opportunity to take action forward in the years to come.
According to Aro, one sold-out regular season match will bring a six-figure sum to the club’s box office, depending on the organization costs. According to Aro, such figures were difficult to reach in Hakametsä, but now they can be reached in local games and, for example, HIFK matches with at least 10,000 spectators.
– Similarly, an everyday match is easily a plus-minus zero level. Hall rents, law enforcement and other costs are more expensive than in Hakametsä, Aro says.
According to Aro, playing in the arena is a sensible equation for Tappara when tickets go well and restaurant sales pull.
– On average, this is played. It is a good opportunity for us, this spring has already shown it. We had an average of 6,700 spectators for arena matches and that is a good starting point for the next season, Aro formulates.
Aro does not see that Tappara and Ilves escaped the others thanks to the new arena, as the best games are less profitable.
– There are so many hall projects in Finland elsewhere as well. The best returns are limited to a relatively small number of games. On an annual basis, that return isn’t quite as shocking, Aro says.
However, he hopes that the Tampere arena will be able to launch other similar projects so that they are located close to the city centers, just like in Tampere.
– People have come to the public place nicely here, there have hardly been any traffic jams or parking problems. Things that were feared in advance have not materialized. The location in the center supports the attendance at the matches in a good way, as the spring matches have shown.
This year, the dream final of the people of Tampere was also very close. Aro admits that this failure was annoying.
– We like to play against TPS. TPS is a great team and we have a long tradition at TPS. But here, too, I have been waiting for the local finals of my young age for almost 55 years. That day is sure to come, Aro concludes.