Mysterious league stock.
Recently, it has been discussed more than any other issue related to the Norwegian Hockey League. And for a reason.
No one seems to know what the sky-high current price of a league share, 3.8 million euros, actually consists of. Or was it 3.6 million? There is no clarity about the exact amount either.
In any case, you have to pay 3.6 or 3.8 million for the share if you want to get into the hockey SM league. Unless it manages to rise before spring 2025. Maybe.
The camp of Kiekko-Espoo, which wants to join the league next season, has been told that they do not yet know the price of the league share. The price tag for Jokers was 3.8 million. The Helsinki club announced after hearing the amount that it does not seek to raise on such terms. TuTo Hockey, on the other hand, said that the SM League announced the value of the share at 3.6 million.
Find out about that now.
It is even more difficult to understand how the share price can be so cheeky. Of course, the value of the media contract and other partnerships is calculated into it, but nothing suggests, at least now, that the media contract bringing in the biggest money cake will be bigger in the future than it is now. Rather the opposite.
Telia left with the least noise
At the moment, the media contract is extremely expensive. Thanks to Telia for that, which bought the TV rights of the SM league as a throw-in product from the 2018–19 season and signed an extension contract until 2027 in the spring of 2022. Telia paid Liiga approximately 23 million euros annually during the first contract period.
This fall, however, Telia quietly gave up the rights and transferred them to MTV.
In Maikkar, the transfer was not received with joy. CEO of MTV Johannes Leppänen said directly that making league broadcasts is not commercially sustainable. MTV will pay approximately EUR 90 million for the remaining contract period.
Sanoma also stated the same unprofitability before Telia and MTV. You don’t need fortune-telling skills to state that there is a high probability that there will not be a media contract like the current one in the future.
Do the league bosses calculate that the demolition of Veikkaus’ monopoly position, which will probably happen in a couple of years, will automatically bring money to the main league in sacks? I hope not, because there are still many twists and turns in the pattern. The biggest thing is that the right of foreign betting companies to advertise their activities in sports is still completely open.
The SM league should be opened as soon as possible, what does that share worth almost four million euros consist of. Has the value of the SM league increased that much? What is the assessment based on?
What about that pillow money?
The current chairman of the SM League Heikki Hiltunen terrified the league share price in 2016, then in the role of Sport’s board chairman. The value of the share at that time was 1.8 million. The Vaasa club paid the sum with teeth and got promoted to the SM league.
The same amount was also paid by Jukurit and KooKoo, which were promoted to the SM league by cabinet decisions.
Hiltunen did not think the amount was fair. He emphasized that Sport intends to monitor its interests if the value of the league share changes.
That’s what Hiltunen has really done. Now, as the chairman of the SM league, he is involved in defining the value of the stock. How is it possible?
At this point, another sum of money hidden in the veil of mystery must be brought up, the so-called cushion money, which would be paid to a club relegated from the SM league.
No one knows its magnitude yet. Is it the same as the sum of the league share, i.e. almost four million?
If it is, and if the relegation happens to be Vaasan Sport, Hiltusen’s home club would get a handsome profit for their 2016 ranking. The value of the EUR 1.8 million share would have doubled in a short time.
Or would the cushion money be similar to when Espoo Blues went bankrupt? SM liiga redeemed league shares from the bankruptcy estate in 2016. The amount was According to Sanoma’s information 295,000 euros. Liiga announced the current mathematical value of the share as 256,000 euros.
At this point, the reporter, who has gone through high school short mathematics by rote, stutters helplessly.
256,000 euros or 3.8 million euros? Smoke rises from the head.
Many league clubs in big trouble
The situation is embarrassing for the SM league, not only because of Hiltusen’s dual role, but also because many current SM league clubs do not meet the conditions that are now required of Jokers, Kiekko-Espo and TuTo. Before you “get” to buy a league share, you have to pass the license conditions. And from spring 2025 onwards, the qualifiers must be won before then.
The activities of a club seeking promotion must be on a credible and sustainable basis, both financially and athletically.
Let’s take a brief look at a few league clubs.
Lappeenranta’s SaiPa is frankly the shame of the SM league. Heavy losses come in spades both in and out of the rink.
Mikkelin Jukurei is doing better on the ice, but measured in euros, the club is in dire straits. Jukurie’s recent distress call was published on the front page of the newspaper.
For a decade, Turku Palloseura has made astonishingly large losses. Last season, no less than 2.9 million euros accumulated from the deficit. The owner, i.e. Supercell, again acknowledged the bill with its good graces. According to insider information, Turku now has its finger on the panic button, because the bottomless chest of the gaming company will likely be closed in the near future.
Hämeenlinna Pallokerho, on the other hand, made losses of almost one million euros last year. And without last spring’s drastic clearance sales, Vaasan Sport would also have been in a difficult financial situation.
I believe Jokerit, Kiekko-Espoo and even TuTo meet these “criteria”.
The SM league should pay, not the other way around
Finally, let’s get back to that league stock. In connection with that, there has also been talk about the brand value of the SM league.
If you look at the topic from that season, the arrangement should be the opposite of the current one: the SM league should pay the Jokeri and Kiekko-Espo, maybe also TuTo, in order to get these clubs into the main league.
The brand value of the jokers has been seen this season in Mestis, when the jester shirts sell out even the guest halls. Kiekko-Espoo is in an economic area that the SM league desperately needs. You can also fit in Turku by throwing in another club.
And this leads smoothly to the topic of conversation, about which heavy words were uttered recently: there are too many teams playing in the SM league. And right now, frankly, the wrong teams.
That conversation must continue. But let’s wait for the mystique of the league stock to disappear.