JVM agreement extended to 2034
Published 2024-01-06 22.16
GOTHENBURG. The JVM is played in Canada every two years.
That will also be the case for the next ten years – at the same time as the Canadian Ice Hockey Association earns the big bucks.
– You shouldn’t get stuck in the trap that it’s bad that other national confederations are developing and making money, says Anders Larsson, chairman of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and board member of the IIHF.
fullscreenSweden arranged the JVM at home this year. Photo: Pontus Orre
On the last day of the Junior WC in Gothenburg, the representatives of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) sat on a podium in front of the press.
Between 2003 and 2023, Canada has hosted eleven of the championships. When Sportbladet asks the president Luc Tardif about this fact and what the future looks like, he confirms that the Canadian Ice Hockey Federation and the IIHF have extended their agreement until 2034.
Every two years the tournament will be held in Canada. In 2025 the tournament will be played in Ottawa, in 2026 in the USA and in 2027 again in Canada.
– It is more important than ever to find solutions to push the product to a higher level. It is our job to make the tournament reach the best possible level. We will try to do that with the U18 WC as well. But we must always make sure that no one gets frustrated. We always make decisions in consultation with those involved, says Luc Tardif.
Bringing in 400 million
Tardif recalls that the JVM was a small tournament 20 years ago.
Today, the tournament is a commercial giant as a result of the television company TSN and Hockey Canada seeing the potential. When TSN extended the broadcasting agreement in 2014, according to the Canadian press, Hockey Canada received promises of the equivalent of SEK 160 million per year for JVM in television money alone. At the same time, the tournament itself is estimated to bring in around SEK 400 million each time it is held in Canada.
Anders Larsson is chairman of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and board member of the IIHF. He says after the press conference that the new ten-year agreement until 2034 between the IIHF and Hockey Canada was concluded shortly before the pandemic in 2020, without remembering exactly when.
– The IIHF has led that agreement, but there has also been an agreement with all the countries that are involved. We have sat down together and concluded that we stand behind this ten-year plan. But it also includes support when we go to Canada. Because you travel there so often, there are travel allowances and other types of support. And the IIHF also earns a penny, which is also important, says Anders Larsson.
full screenAnders Larsson. Photo: Jesper Zerman / Bildbyrån
The JVM in Gothenburg was moved: “A bit of luck”
In September 2020, it was announced that the Junior WC, which would have been played in Gothenburg in 2021/22, would instead be decided in Canada. The reason was that the previous championship (which was played in Canada) had to be decided in front of empty stands due to the pandemic, which was a big financial blow to the Canadian Ice Hockey Federation.
The first reaction was disappointment, admits Anders Larsson. But with hindsight, he thinks it turned out well.
– We have probably actually been a bit lucky that we have JVM here now. Imagine if we had it in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic. We saw how Canada had to struggle over there. It even had to be interrupted. So it feels pretty good that we ended up in 2024, even if there was a bit of frustration right then.
You were a bit disappointed and frustrated at the time, at the same time you were running for a board position in the IIHF (eight days after the news notice about the JVM move, it was confirmed that Larsson had been elected). Could it have influenced and held you back in the dialogue between the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation and the IIHF?
– No, in my world it doesn’t add up. When you look back at the time during the pandemic, it was a time when we had to make a lot of difficult decisions in sports – of course many others had it even more difficult in hospitals and in society – and I think you should have great respect for that. We saw no reason to beat any jungle drum, but rather try to find solutions and try to come to an agreement. For us, it was a good solution in the end that we can stand here today.
Anders Larsson emphasizes that he thinks it is very important that the Junior WC is played in Europe. When it will be in Sweden next time is difficult to say, but according to the current plan it will be roughly every ten years.
“Not a bad deal for Hockey Canada”
In a column published on Sunday, Sportbladet’s Patrik Brenning wrote: “The entire JVM is therefore moving resources from Swedish to Canadian talent development” regarding the financial settlement.
– There will be two parts to this, says Anders Larsson and continues:
– Thanks to the agreement we have made, the International Ice Hockey Federation with the support of the various national federations, with Hockey Canada, the Junior WC has grown and become something absolutely fantastic. And on that journey, Hockey Canada makes more and more money, absolutely. And it is clear that they can invest it in player development and reap benefits from it. Much like our neighbors in Finland who have organized the Men’s WC two years in a row and made quite a lot of money from it. It is clear that they will be able to invest the money in player development, because we are non-profit making businesses. At the same time, if we hadn’t done this with Hockey Canada, you and I wouldn’t be standing here knowing that it would be 11,500 and patch on the door in the final. Then we might have stood in a smaller ice rink somewhere and had a good competition on the ice, but it’s not the same thing at all. Now everything points to the Junior WC becoming a plus deal in the wallet, but above all for the interest in hockey. We do it mainly not to make money here and now, but to build interest in hockey and bring in more children and young people.
Larsson continues:
– But it’s clear. This is not a bad deal for Hockey Canada. They have done well.
Should you be able to take a larger share of the revenue in the next deal because JVM is so big now?
– It is clear that we are in a completely different place today than when this journey began a little over ten years ago. The discussion must look different. But I don’t think you should get completely caught up in the angle vault that other national confederations are developing and making money. It is good. The more money and resources available to hockey in the world, the better it is and the more can be developed. Our task here at home is to look at how we work with our model. We are quite a small country. We have our own model with non-profit associations and non-profit leaders. So we work in a slightly different way.
2024-01-06 21:17:55
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