Turku Sanomat wrote on Friday about the club’s serious financial difficulties. According to the newspaper, the club is even on the verge of bankruptcy.
The financial difficulties of HC TPS have been known for a long time. Turku Sanomat says, that TPS, which plays in the ice hockey SM league, will start a drastic austerity. The Turku club aims to save up to 2.2 million euros for next season.
On Friday, the team prepared for the match against JYPi from Jyväskylä. A serious-looking player coordinator was walking in the hallway of Turkuhalli Tomi Kallio. He admits that there have been financial worries for a long time.
– You have to understand the situation, and it’s pointless to tease it more. We try to play as well as we can with the money we have.
According to the newspaper, half a million is to be deducted from the player budget. Kallio believes that the means will be found for that as well.
– Of course, we have been making next year’s team for a long time. We have known where to go and tried to build a team accordingly.
Those who succeed will find a place in the next season as well
Player coordinator Tomi Kallio promises that the club will do its best to find a contract for the successful ones in the future. According to him, the players are used to the fact that some leave and some want to move forward.
Top players should usually be included in the team, but Kallio reminds that a relatively unknown team has played in the finals in Turku before.
– This is a team game. A couple of years ago, in the finals, new stars emerged from among them, who were inevitably not there at the beginning of the season. You can also succeed in a team game.
Kallio believes that TPS will play in the playoffs again this spring, and that a place there will also bring money to the coffers.
The Turku club aims to save up to 2.2 million euros for next season.
The savings target is significant, because, for example, in the previous period, TPS’s total turnover was 11.7 million euros.
It is planned to cut half a million euros from the player budget and the same amount from other personnel expenses. The team’s player budget this season is 2.8 million.
Sports director of TPS Rauli Urama estimates to Turku Sanom that TPS will have to give up nine players, as a result of which EUR 700,000 – EUR 750,000 would be deducted from the salary budget.