Lillehammer is in danger of bankruptcy – now another club is in trouble

Lillehammer ice hockey club needs NOK 2.5 million by Monday to survive. In Lørenskog, the club is asking for help from members.

Norwegian Hockey is in full crisis.

On Tuesday, Sparta suspended all administration.

On Wednesday, a financial rescue operation was launched in Lillehammer and Lørenskog to avoid bankruptcy after the economy declined significantly during the year.

The Lørenskog Ice Hockey Club board writes in a press release that the club is facing serious financial challenges and is in danger of not being able to pay its ongoing obligations.

The board points to several reasons for the difficult situation:

A political decision to use the club’s ice rink for free was recently overturned, which means the club still has to cover 45 percent of the operating costs.

In addition, sponsorship income has failed – so far the club has received only NOK 2.3 million out of a budget target of NOK 3.6 million.

– We run an elite team with little money compared to other clubs, the board says in the message.

The club is also waiting for around NOK million in repayment of operating subsidies from the region for the period 2015-2021.

To improve the economy, the board is now asking for support from members and the local community.

Chairman Knut Rindal of Lillehammer Ishockeyklubb is reacting strongly to the information he received after taking office just 21 days ago.

– A deep examination of the accounts shows that the situation is far more dangerous than what I was told when I took over as chairman earlier in November. The real truth is that the club will go bankrupt if we are not successful with the rescue plan, says Rindal in one press release

The local newspaper Gudbrandsdølen Dagnigen wrote about it emergency meeting in Lillehammer on Wednesday.

The club needs to raise NOK 2.5 million by next Monday to meet public payment requirements and salaries. In total, the club has a negative equity of NOK 9.6 million.

Rindal says reducing contracts and letting go could be relevant.

– It is no secret that Norwegian hockey is run at a level where there is no funding at the moment. The funding does not match the level of desire, says Acting General Secretary Petter Salsten from the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association to VG.

The situation also worries hockey president Tage Pettersen.

– There are a lot of red warning lights out there in the clubs now. We see that several clubs are struggling, both in Norwegian ice hockey, but also in sports in general, he told NTB on Monday.

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Sparta in financial trouble: suspends all administration

On Tuesday, it was announced that the club Sarpsborg Sparta has to suspend the entire administration and that the next step may be to release the players.

Petter Salsten believes that there are signs of great danger in Norwegian hockey and says that individual cases such as Sparta and Lillehammer are unfortunate.

– It is essential to get to a point where, over time, we have sustainable work both in terms of finances and employees. It indicates that key people are being eaten over a low boot in Hockey-Norway.

– We use money, but also workers. We see that when the functions of boards and managers are replaced. There are hard ceilings. It is a symptom of an illness that we must correct, says Salsten.