Ice hockey without a spectator? An image that we will have to get used to again. Image: keystone
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Eismeister Zaugg
Ghost games in ice hockey: an emergency solution that can work
Until further notice, only ghost games. Can ice hockey survive like this? Yes, under certain conditions. For once, emotions shouldn’t play a role.
The championship with ghost games will continue until Sunday. Then the clubs decide how to proceed during the one-week national team break (without international matches). There is now only one question left: continue with ghost games or take a break?
As soulless ghost games may be – they are a stopgap solution that can work. If the championship is continued without spectators, the visibility of the sponsors in the TV broadcasts and with the media presence is maintained. The TV money of 35 million, half of which was paid at the beginning of the season with a small discount because of the failed playoffs, will also be retained. Or, to put it simply: the clubs can save around 20 percent of their income with ghost games.
At least the camera could be there at the hockey games. archive Image: KEYSTONE
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In combination with waiver of wages, federal money and the re-granting of the short-time work allowance for temporary contracts, which expired on September 1, the clubs can survive. In detail: 75 million in loans from the state treasury have been approved for 2020 for hockey and again the same amount for 2021. Political efforts are now under way to convert these loans into subsidies. Because that’s the only way clubs can survive. Either way, these loans are never paid back.
More about the corona measures
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The short-term unemployment regulation for temporary contracts (the players and coaches have fixed-term contracts) relieve wage costs considerably. The requirement: for ghost games, the staff can be put on short-time work. What is in the sense of the law: the short-time working regulation should enable companies to get through a crisis without layoffs, which will pass by human judgment.
Continue or pause ghost games? Image: keystone
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The concern about ghost games: if the situation should normalize and can be played in front of an audience again in January or February: are the fans angry because so many games were played as ghost games? Couldn’t the championship have been interrupted? Then more games could be played in front of an audience. This risk should be small. The solidarity with the clubs and the understanding for the difficult situation are great among the season ticket holders in ice hockey.
There is of course a strong emotional factor: ghost games have no soul. That’s right. But now it’s about the survival of ice hockey as we know it. In times of crisis, players have to forego the emotions. After all, they are allowed to train and play. It’s a bit like a reduction to bread and water. Eating is less fun this way. But it nourishes and you can make ends meet.
An interruption or cancellation of the championship does not improve the financial situation of the clubs. The second half of the TV money will no longer flow in the event of a cancellation and the sponsors can expect reimbursement. An interruption is also risky because the restriction to ghost games applies for an indefinite period of time. There is no planning security. If it were clear that the audience could play again from January, then an interruption would make sense. But nobody knows when the stadium doors will be allowed to open again.
An interruption or cancellation of the championship is formally a mode change during the current season and requires the approval of three-quarters of the clubs.
There is also a radical solution: abandon the championship, the public corporation clubs will all go bankrupt and when the crisis is over, all clubs will re-establish and start all over again. That is legally feasible. But it would be such a radical step, with so much image loss and economic and social side effects, that it could be years before ice hockey is back to the way we know it today.
