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Alexey Morozov in a recent interview, talked about the league’s plans to resume the season. In short, there are six people infected with coronavirus in the League, but the KHL will take all measures to prevent the spread of the virus. In particular, it is said about the development and approval of a special document with Rospotrebnadzor, which will act as an addition to the KHL regulations.
The KHL President says that this document has worked out all the aspects that may affect the life of clubs in terms of training and game processes. True, what alternative measures will be taken is not explained.
“Barys” no longer fits into the pre-season training plan
This is all very cool, but the most important thing is holding a stable tournament. The League plans to start the season on September 2, but already, for example, Kazakhstan has introduced quarantine, which will last until August 2. Now all the Russian teams have started training camp, and the Barys players did not even get up on the ice. The Kazakhstani team does not meet the initial pre-season training. In addition, the “Cup of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan” was canceled, although at the time of the interview, the president of the KHL was sure that this tournament would take place.
The general manager of “Barys” Vyacheslav Belan said in an interview with our website that the process of preparing for the season of the players should be planned. That is, the club from Nur-Sultan will be physically less ready for the upcoming season than its rivals.
With the KHL fans, everything will be decided – either 10%, or no one at all, or full stands. But the jurisdiction of the KHL is not only Russia, but also Belarus, Latvia, Finland, Kazakhstan and China, so the issue of attendance was given to the clubs to decide.
Kunlun has already announced that it will be based in Mytishchi. Belarus also does not raise questions in terms of participation – something extraordinary must happen there in order to introduce an emergency regime. Three countries are under attack – Latvia, Kazakhstan and Finland. The last two even refused to continue the Gagarin Cup-2020. Not because they were afraid, they just closed the entrance and exit in these republics, plus the hockey players worried about their relatives and wanted to be with their family at that difficult time. According to Iltalehti, the KHL is now recommending Dinamo Riga to follow the example of Kunlun and also move to Russia.
Latvia and Finland bring large incomes to the KHL due to a higher standard of living and, accordingly, high prices for TV rights. Let’s take a certain probability that the second wave of coronavirus will come in the fall. What to do in this case and how will the KHL act?
The KHL will have several options for continuing the tournament
In fact, with the emergence of a new wave of coronavirus, the KHL will have to proceed from several options: the first is to suspend the championship for an indefinite time, the second is to change the structure of the tournament with hub cities (as was done in the NHL), and the third is to continue the tournament without foreign teams.
The imperative methods work very strictly and if everything is very clear with Russia – hockey players will simply pass tests before each game and play matches without spectators, then with the decree of the Government of other countries it will be quite difficult, since international flights will simply be closed.
Dinamo Riga has a minimum budget, if forced to be based in Russia, the club will have to pay for the hotel and so on. Naturally, this is not beneficial to the team from the capital of Latvia, which makes ends meet every season. Ideally, the League’s management should take measures to pay over the planned costs to foreign clubs.
There is also the fourth – the most conservative option – the cancellation of the 2020/2021 season. This one also needs to be considered. At any moment, the money that should have gone to the team can go sharply to the needs of the population. And this is normal and fair. Most KHL clubs live on public funds and money, usually, is allocated from the general regional or national funds, which go not only to sports, but also to other industries that are important for residents. Even oligarch companies lose a lot of money in the era of a pandemic, for example, Gazprom suffered a quarterly loss for the first time since 2015. The KHL president did not speak about all of the above. That is, the KHL announced only plan A, but plans B, C, D and so on are missing. Yes, they talk about them, but abstractly – there is no detail, as well as clarity.
At the same time, according to sources, the participation of “Vityaz” (hockey players agreed to a decrease in wages by 20%) and “Amur” are questionable. Salavat Yulaev is also suffering – sources say that Bashneft has stopped contributions to the local regional fund. And at the very beginning of the pandemic, the “Admiral” fell off.
The KHL must inform not only clubs and players, but also fans. Everyone misses hockey and wants to know the plan – how the League will act in one case or another. The KHL is simply obliged to detail each scenario and, based on the principle of publicity, announce it. Foreign teams in the current situation are in the most difficult, incomprehensible and depressing situation.
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