EHC Kloten and EHC Olten: Both want to get promoted

When the final series between EHC Kloten and EHC Olten begins on Monday, it’s also a duel between must and may. Even before the first puck is thrown in, the presidents engage in a small battle of words at a distance. Olten’s Marc Thommen says: “Mike has to, I can go up.” The addressed Mike Schälchli replies: “We don’t have to do anything. I already said to the players at the little celebration after our qualifying win: ‘The only thing we have to do is die and pay taxes.’ Everything else is voluntary. It would be completely wrong to build up additional pressure now.”

The pressure is already there. For the second and final time, the Swiss League champions are promoted to the National League without qualifying for a league. Thommen and Schälchli are therefore not only sporting rivals these days, but in a certain way also shared in fate. They are trying to escape from the league they are trying to rebuild at the same time. Due to the gradual expansion of the National League, the second-highest league has lost some of its livelihood. A year ago, HC Ajoie left the league for the top league, followed this time by Kloten or Olten.

What then remains is also a piece of desperation. Sierre, Thurgau, Winterthur, Biasca: glamor sounds different. After all, EHC Basel will be part of the league again from the coming season. But he too is anything but a giant in Swiss ice hockey. A year ago, the National League became independent. The Swiss League still lets her organize the game operations, but she goes her own way in marketing. “We were just junior partners anyway. When it came to voting, we never stood a chance,” says Thommen.

Marketing revenue in the Swiss League is halved

This has financial consequences. So far, each club has received an annual amount of CHF 370,000 from central marketing. In the future, Thommen expects at most half. After the current TV contract expires, the league will have to find its own partner. Sunrise-UPC, which previously held the rights, offered 250,000 francs per year, i.e. 25,000 per club, and in return demanded exclusivity. The league didn’t want to do that.

Instead, the Swiss League is now trying to bring the league to its consumers via a digital platform. One thing is clear: as a regional product, the Swiss League will find it even more difficult to position itself in the oversized shadow of the National League. That’s why Kloten and Olten would rather join the elite series today than tomorrow.

EHC Kloten has a long history as a five-time champion in the top league, the Oltner played three seasons in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the NLA and strengthened in their first A season with German ice hockey legend Erich Kühnhackl. In the end, the club was left with a debt of 3.65 million francs, which led to a players’ strike and almost bankruptcy.

EHC Olten is now back on a solid foundation. The joint-stock company was renovated in 2017, the Kleinholz-Halle renovated for around 15 million francs and adapted to the times. There is now also a VIP lounge or a fondue grandstand there, with which the club generates additional income. Investments in young talent have been increased.

In the current season, Olten is operating with a budget of 6 million francs. According to the managing director Patrick Reber, it would be possible to increase this to 9 million in the event of a rise. Reber expects an additional audience potential of between 500 and 1000 spectators. In the regular season, EHC Olten played in front of an average of 2500 spectators; in the play-offs before 3700. HC Ajoie attracted an average of 3626 spectators this National League season as a promoted team.

Olten’s President Thommen says: “We’ve been at the forefront of the Swiss League for a number of years and are now ready to take a step forward. We have national sponsors who would be more interested in the National League.”

The sentence could also come from Mike Schälchli. Four years have now passed since EHC Kloten was relegated. But at least in the mind, neither the club nor its supporters have ever arrived in the B-League. Their self-image was shaped in the 1990s, when between 1993 and 1996 Kloten was the only club to date to string together four titles in the play-off era.

The youth department of EHC Kloten is still first class and is at the top level in all junior categories. With a budget of over ten million francs, Kloten is still making an effort that is greater than that of NLA teams such as HC Ajoie or the SCL Tigers. But it is also clear that if the return to the National League does not succeed again, everything could fall apart.

The increase has deprived the Swiss League of its basis

Olten wants to get out of the Swiss League, Kloten wants to get out of the Swiss League, and EHC Visp also dreams of jumping back into the elite, although the sporting performance has not yet corresponded to the good general conditions in Upper Valais. Olten’s president says that with the increase, the National League has put the Swiss League in a very difficult position, as the B-League will be deprived of two top teams.

Starting next winter, the top league will include 14 teams for the first time in its history. The return to the original 12 teams is not an issue at least for the moment. A corresponding proposal would have no chance before the league meeting. After the transition period of the Corona years, the league qualification should be reintroduced. But because from the coming season, six instead of four foreigners will be allowed in the senior teams, the bottleneck between the leagues will become even tighter.

In this environment, Swiss League Managing Director Jean Brogle is trying to create a new economic basis for the clubs. In cooperation with Mike Schälchli’s event agency Tit-Pit, he is looking for a title sponsor and is building his own television platform. So far there are no results. The economic environment is difficult – especially since the product that Brogle is supposed to market is not very convincing. The sporting interests within the league are too heterogeneous.

The example of HC Ajoie gives hope

These are the conditions under which the final series of a maximum of seven games begins on Monday. Kloten and Olten have both received the green light for promotion from the National League. The example of HC Ajoie not only gives hope to the clubs, but also to the leaders of the league.

In terms of sport, the Jurassic were overwhelmed in the top class. They won just seven out of 51 games. But the adventure seems to be working out economically. Having started the season with a minimum budget of seven million Swiss francs, the Jura were able to increase the budget step by step to over nine million Swiss francs thanks to the euphoria in the region.

But do EHC Kloten and EHC Olten also enjoy such support? Will their supporters brave series of defeats with the same patience as those of HC Ajoie, who endured 19 lost games in a row without losing the joy of ice hockey and white wine?

Question marks are allowed. EHC Kloten is in the mighty shadow of the ZSC Lions, EHC Olten has to find its place a good hour’s drive from EV Zug, SC Bern and the SCL Tigers. Marc Thommen says: “The National League is easier for us to plan financially.”

There is a lot at stake in the upcoming final series, and not just on the ice.