As Europe's premier club hockey championship, the Champions Hockey League and its member clubs have come up with a number of ways to better promote their product. At a recent meeting, these ideas were discussed in detail.
by Derek O'Brien
ZURICH – With just two weeks before the start of the second Champions Hockey League season, representatives from the league and clubs met to discuss how they can better present Europe's premier club hockey competition to the public.
One of the important points of emphasis throughout the meeting is the relationship between the CHL and the various domestic leagues around Europe. Just as a football club wants to win both the UEFA Champions League and its domestic league, so too should hockey clubs.
In demonstrating this, CHL COO and communications director Szymon Szemberg showed a quotation from famous Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, when asked which he'd rather win: the Premiership or the Champions League. “I want to win both,” was his straightforward answer.
It was noted that the winners of the Champions Hockey League are the undisputed club hockey champions of Europe, and will henceforth be styled as “European champions.”
The current European champions are Lulea Hockey, who beat Frolunda Gothenburg in a thrilling final last February. Robert Hedlund, the club's communications manager, nicely reiterated the point made by Ferguson on the importance of both the domestic league and the Champions League, in relating a story from training camp where the players had to climb three peaks on a run.
“The three peaks represent the three challenges ahead of us this season: the CHL, the SHL and the Swedish championship,” Hedlund explained. “We know it's going to be really tough to repeat as champions, but we're going to do everything that we can.”
One of the ongoing claims people bring up in response to the CHL's claim of being the European club championship is the lack of KHL participation. While the CHL is hopeful that the Russian-based league will be involved at some point in the future, the KHL has not yet agreed to join the European club competition.
“Those who do not compete do not count,” Szemberg emphasized. “I am confident that our best teams can beat any team from the KHL. If the KHL wants to prove otherwise, then they have to compete.”
Another key issue of the workshop was attendance – an important measuring stick in the relationship between the league and its fans. In 2014–15, the average attendance for a CHL game was 3,049. As is the case with many things, it varied wildly from city to city – from 5,573 in Berlin to 915 in Briancon.
Challenges discussed include the schedule, which has the entire group stage played before the start of the domestic leagues, while fans are still enjoying summer weather and haven't yet been fully mobilized to support their teams. Once again, Hedlund explained how a negative can be turned into a positive, recounting how the season progressed in Lulea.
“It started with our trip to Nottingham, where some of our fans came with us and had a wonderful time,” he began. “Then many fans from Nottingham came up to Lulea and they helped created atmosphere in the arena, and our fans began to react. It was weird, but a special bond was built between the fans of the two teams, and we had a lot of Nottingham fans supporting us through the rest of the competition.”
Things continued to grow and finally, in January, they faced arch-rivals Skelleftea AIK in the semi-finals. “There's always something special when these teams get together. Fans always travel to the other city, and again, of course the home fans don't want to be outdone by the visiting fans, so what you get is fantastic atmosphere. Then by the time of the final (against Frolunda) in the first week of February, you couldn't find a free ticket if you tried.”
With the change in format so that a higher percentage of games are in the knockout stage, it's expected that if fan interest starts lukewarm, it will increase steadily until the important games, which will be played in the winter months and fans will be in full gear.
Of course, fans don't only buy tickets to see their home team, but to see their opponents as well. A game becomes a big event when star players come to town.
“One of the things we were hearing last year was that the home fans didn't know enough about the visiting teams,” said CHL marketing and events director Patrick Jost. “We need to get to know each other.”
To that end, the teams have been encouraged to make promotional videos of their team and their city, which will be publicized by the CHL and by the teams in their group. Some teams have already taken this initiative, with the one made by the Braehead Clan receiving favourable reviews.
.
Another team that has been proactive in its approach is the Swedish champion Vaxjo Lakers. The Lakers have been exchanging information with the other clubs in Group O – ERC Ingoldstadt and Braehead – such as star players, new players, legends, coaches and management, and accomplishments. Along with this, they are providing lists of basic hockey terms in their local languages (Swedish, German, and English). This idea proved so popular at the workshop that it was made league-wide policy.
The end of the workshop means the last big date on the calendar before opening night of the competition itself is 13 August – that's the day that each team must announce their rosters for the coming CHL season. Fans will then have a better idea of who will be standing in the way of their teams in their quest to become European champions.