Seagulls CEO Milla Valjus says that Kisahalli’s capacity is sufficient for regular season matches. The new arena can be built next year.
Helsinki Seagulls, the recent Finnish champions of the Men’s Basketball League, play their home games in Töölö Kisahalli, which can accommodate a maximum of 1,500 spectators. For example, the new rough hall of the final opponent Karhu Basket in Kauhajoki can accommodate 3,800 basketball fans, even though the population of Kauhajoki (about 13,000) is only a fraction of Helsinki’s.
The games of the final series in Helsinki were sold out in ten minutes. Should the capital’s basketball pride get a bigger home arena?
CEO of the Seagulls Milla Valjus says that the capacity of the atmospheric Kisahalli is generally sufficient for regular season matches.
– The issue of the hall always becomes relevant when there is success, and suddenly the number of people interested in basketball increases considerably compared to the regular season matches of the Basketball League, Valjus said via e-mail.
Valjus estimates that the final games against Karhu Basket could have gathered 3,000–5,000 spectators in a bigger hall.
– Playing in a bigger hall, such as Nordis or Metro-arena, costs many times more than Kisahalli and requires additional workforce and production planning well in advance.
– Spectators can get close to the field in the race hall, and there are good views from all the seats in the grandstand. The atmosphere is the absolute strength of “Kisis”, as we got to experience in the victorious final match.
Valjus says that for the Euroleague and other international games, Helsinki needs a basketball arena with international services.
– In Töölö Kisahalli, we are unable to develop restaurant and ancillary services because there is no space, and we operate as a tenant of the City of Helsinki. From the tenant’s point of view, we are very satisfied with Kisahalli.
The Seagulls are scheduled to move to play their matches in the Nordenskiöldinkatu ice rink in the future, as long as the planned Helsinki Garden multi-purpose arena is completed.
For construction work possibly next year
The Helsinki Garden project has been pending for a long time, but nothing has been built yet. In 2015, an arena was planned for Mäntymäki field next to the Olympic Stadium.
The project, which relies on private financing, has progressed slowly, and for example, the construction company YIT, which was involved as a project investor, withdrew from the project in the fall of last year.
The price of the multipurpose arena has been estimated According to Ilta-Sanom (you will switch to another service) 600–800 million euros.
The corona pandemic, the war in Ukraine, interest rate increases and opponents of the project with their complaints have slowed down the project, the leader of Helsinki Garden and the chairman of the ice hockey club Helsinki IFK Timo Everi tells.
The project is currently being processed by the city, and the hall’s plot reservation will be discussed again in Helsinki’s municipal policy, probably in early summer. The previous reservation ended in 2020.
According to Everi, the construction work could start next year. He sees the new hall as necessary, because Helsinki’s sports players give others a head start in the conditions.
– Stadium basketball and other indoor ball sports need a worthy arena if they are to be kept alive. There must be such facilities where it makes sense to conduct sports business.
– Helsinki Garden will offer more than 20 big and important sports, starting with gymnastics and cheerleading, the facilities they deserve. Spaces they don’t currently have. Every day, month and year when it is not there makes it harder to function.
According to Everi, a multi-purpose arena would also boost Helsinki’s event culture, tourism and hotel business, as Tampere’s new arena has done in Pirkanmaa.
– There is a huge need for these. Its importance is greater than any individual club. The importance of the Seagulls or HIFK to Helsinki should not be underestimated, but it is good to understand that the whole of Tampere will receive a well-deserved increase in value and a significant indirect and immediate benefit from having a new and wonderful arena there.