Representatives of the 26 Champions Hockey League founding clubs met at O2 World in Berlin on Wednesday. The purpose of the meeting was to review the first CHL season and set an agenda for the future.

by Szymon Szemberg

BERLIN – For the first time since the start of the Champions Hockey League, the 26 founding clubs met to review the league’s first season and to identify the most vital areas of improvement going forward. 

“It was a very good and very important meeting,” said Håkan Loob, general manager of Färjestad Karlstad. “The success of the CHL depends, to a large extent, on the clubs working together towards common goals.” 

The Champions Hockey League’s club owners’ meeting was hosted by Eisbären Berlin and the magnificent O2 World Arena and representatives of all 26 founding clubs took part, with some of the clubs bringing two or even three officials.

Also participating were representatives of some of the leagues, the CHL Board of Directors, CHL staff and the CHL’s commercial partner, Infront Sports.

“During the process of structuring the Champions Hockey League, it was made clear that this must be a club-driven league and this is also reflected the clubs’ 63 percent share of the shareholding company,” said CHL chairman Anders Ternbom. 

“But for this really to be a league where the clubs set the agenda for the future, the clubs must have their forum where they can meet, exchange views and experiences and determine where the CHL has to improve and which direction the competition should develop,” Ternbom continued. “This was a good start and the meeting gave the board very valuable information and in some cases clear indications about how the clubs see the future of the CHL.”

After that the chairman welcomed the participants, league CEO Martin Baumann gave his review of the season, pointing out things which were delivered according to plan and as well listing the CHL’s major challenges during the phase of establishment. 

“We should be very proud of what we have accomplished,” said Baumann. “In the first year with a 44-team league we delivered 161 games, and without any major incidents, cancellations or postponements. “In an already very game-heavy sport, we added almost half a million fans to hockey, not to mention the million who followed us on digital media plus another 50 000 on social media.”

Baumann gave a very detailed report about the attendance figures from the first season, identifying this as the main area where the CHL must improve. The average attendance figure from the inaugural year was 3048.

“We were very happy with the numbers in August, partially in September and also when we reached the final stages of the event, but we must improve in the middle,” said Baumann. “The change in the format which will be implemented for next season, with groups of three and where we reach the knock-out stage faster, should help us.”

In the country-by-country attendance report, Baumann showed that the “underdog” hockey nations Germany, Switzerland and Austria scored better than the traditional powers Sweden, Finland and Czech Republic.

“This is something that surprised me,” said Baumann. “But the explanation is probably that fans from countries which are not spoiled with international hockey success are more keen to watch their teams perform against teams from top countries, while fans of teams from big hockey nations apply a more ‘wait-and-see’ approach.”

Each of the six founding countries also appointed a representative who addressed the meeting with reviews from the first season, from their country and club perspective. All presenters listed things which were positive and issues where there is room for improvement.

After presentations about how international media perceived the CHL’s opening season and the participation structure and key dates for year two, a moderated discussion among the participants followed.

The three major issues which were discussed:

• Sportive qualification criteria and how to apply in them in the future.
• The KHL and the fact that Russian teams are not part of the Champions Hockey League.
• A proposal of a more permanent club forum structure where clubs could regularly meet, an association with the goal to improve conditions for club hockey in Europe.