The ice hockey World Cup home tournament in Tampere last spring was record-breakingly profitable for the association. The ice hockey association’s profit was a whopping 13.9 million euros below the line.
18:44•Updated 18:44
Finnish ice hockey is doing well in many ways. Last season, topped off by the men’s Olympic victory and home gold at the World Cup, was a sporting success.
After half a year of successful value tournaments, it is also financially sound.
The Ice Hockey Federation announced the results of the World Cup report it commissioned on Thursday in Turku. They were flattering reading for the genre.
The World Cup held in Tampere in May succeeded beyond expectations from the point of view of Finnish ice hockey. The games left less than 13.9 million euros in profit for the development of domestic ice hockey.
– The end result was excellent by all measures. The organization of the games was widely praised. The final culminated in the Lions’ world championship, and also financially, the games achieved a record result on a Finnish scale, president of the Ice Hockey Association Harri Nummela told.
When Finland was last responsible for the main organization of the World Cup in the final tournament of 2012, the income for the association was 8.4 million euros.
The association has developed and supported Finnish ice hockey with a total of more than 17 million euros with the winnings from the 2000 World Cup home games. From this year’s World Cup prize pool, the association allocates 1.4 million euros of extra club support to junior clubs.
Ticket sales surprised
Of the 36.59 million euros in income from the World Cup home tournament, 23.38 million was collected from the sale of admission tickets. A total of almost 380,000 tickets were sold for the tournament played in Tampere and Helsinki.
The consumer loyalty of hockey fans even surprised the WC organizers.
There were enough threatening images: the corona pandemic, which held the whole world hostage for a couple of years, has overshadowed public events for a long time, and the brutal war of aggression that Russia started in Ukraine in February has set the heavenly bodies of world politics in an unpredictable position.
– Before the Games, we were prepared for unexpected situations, Chairman Nummela confirmed.
After the WC tournament in May, the puck world still remembers the “Spirit of Tampere” years later.
– We were surprised by how many tickets were sold just before and during the Games. This was significantly influenced by, among other things, the great success of the home team, the general secretary of the World Cup Heikki Hietanen startled
Next spring, Finland and Tampere will organize a shared WC tournament with Latvia and Riga.