Tickets for the first opening games of the World Ice Hockey Championship are almost sold out, Edgars Buncis, the head of the Latvian organizing committee of the 2023 World Ice Hockey Championship, told LETA.
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At the same time, he admitted that, in general, the success of ticket sales can be assessed as moderately good. Buncis is sure that as the time of the championship approaches, people’s interest in buying tickets will increase.
At the moment, the most requested matches are with the participation of teams from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland and Latvia.
When asked about the organizational aspects of the championship, Buncis indicated that the adaptation works of “Arenas Rīga” and its territory, as well as “Rimi Olympic Sports Center” for the needs of the hockey championship, will begin soon.
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“I would not like to say that we are facing difficulties, but there is no shortage of challenges in our work,” said the head of the organizing committee.
He expressed that, although the danger of unforeseen risks always exists, the organizers have so far been lucky with a professional team and partners who are aware of their responsibility and time limits.
Buncis emphasized that everything is currently going according to the planned schedule.
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When asked about state support for organizing the championship, Buncis said that the money has not yet been received, but there is hope that it could happen soon.
He noted that the hockey championship will be the biggest sports event of this year with a large number of fans from abroad as well, which will give the country and Riga additional economic activity and revenues in the budgets, where more than a million euros have already been spent on organizing the event.
“In addition, there are more than three weeks until the event, and the tournament itself here in Latvia will take place in almost two weeks. State support would be a big burden to cover all the necessary expenses of the championship,” said Buncis, adding that the only revenue to cover the costs of the entire tournament, apart from sponsors and state support, will come from ticket sales.
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As the head of the committee stated, until now the organizers of the championship have already realized all planned, seven in total, sponsor packages.
In response to the question about the sufficiency of the budget for the event, Buncis stated that the finances were carefully analyzed before the tournament was organized and currently the organizers of the championship fit within the established limits.
“We are still very much hoping for the funding granted by the state and the symbolic ‘yes’ to the world championship in Riga, Latvia, because we have not yet reached the break-even of the project,” added Buncis.
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LETA already announced that the budget of the tournament planned in Riga is planned to be less than eight million euros. Of this, 570,000 euros are planned to be financed by the Riga municipality, and 550,000 euros are planned to be financed by the official supporters of the Latvian Organizing Committee.
On the other hand, state funding of 500,000 euros is intended for the license payment and 250,000 euros for holding the IIHF congress.
The remaining revenues in the amount of 6,121,580 euros are planned from the sale of tickets.
Last year, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) stripped Russia of the right to host the 2023 World Ice Hockey Championship in St. Petersburg, and later it was confirmed that the championship would be hosted by Riga and the Finnish city of Tampere. The master competition will take place from May 12 to May 28, 2023.
