It has been announced that a new ice hockey league, the IJ League, will be launched. According to officials, “Hokkaido Wilds”, which has announced plans to move its base from Kushiro to Tokyo, and teams from Japan and abroad will participate.
The Hokkaido Wilds, which includes former players from the East Hokkaido Cranes, which has left the ice hockey league, and was based in Kushiro, will move to Tokyo this spring in order to continue the team. .
Under these circumstances, on the 29th, it was announced that a new league separate from the Asia League, the “IJ League” = “Ice Hockey Japan League”, would be launched.
According to sources, the league will consist of four teams, including the Wilds, from the Tokyo metropolitan area, the Chubu region, and Beijing, China, and the league plans to schedule the league from spring to summer, when the Asia League is in its off-season. is.
The league will officially start next year in 2025, with pre-season games being held this year.If we can get cooperation from the Kushiro Ice Hockey Federation, we are considering holding games in Kushiro in the future. about it.
[Kushiro citizens]
Regarding the launch of the new league, a woman in her 70s who lives in Kushiro City said, “I think it’s a great thing. Everyone was disappointed that there would be no professional team, and Kushiro is feeling lonely in many ways. It’s good to see it come alive,” he said.
Another man in his 20s said, “I don’t know what form it will take, but the new league is different from the Asian League, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it will go.”
[Reporter Shunsuke Shimanaka]
Wiles decided that it would be difficult to participate in the Asian League, so he decided to start a new league.
The Wilds announced at a press conference last month that they would be holding performances and other activities mainly in Nagoya and Osaka, and the new league is expected to attract a certain amount of customers by holding games in metropolitan areas with large populations.
According to officials, a match in Kushiro is also being considered, so it will likely be a valuable opportunity for Kushiro, which has virtually no professional team, to see a top-level match.
On the other hand, the situation continues to be difficult, as the number of people playing ice hockey has been reduced by almost half in about 30 years, and the current situation is that the financial aspects of attracting customers and operating the sport are still unknown.
It will be interesting to see whether the launch of a new league will be a catalyst for the popularity of ice hockey in Japan.
2024-02-29 09:38:00
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