What happens now to the Swiss League? Association CEO Bloch takes a stand: “I consistently reject Olten’s attack.”

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The second championship title in a row left the fans standing on their heads – the Mélèzes rink in La Chaux-de-Fonds became a party zone on Tuesday evening after the 4-1 win in the last series against the GCK Lions. But there is not peace, joy and pancakes everywhere in the Swiss League. Since going it alone, the Swiss League has developed a reputation as a problem league. Association director Patrick Bloch (38) comments on various points. Bloch about…

“Just like last season, there are now ten teams. The withdrawn Martigny is replaced by promoted team Chur. The Bellinzona Rockets also told us that they plan to play in the Swiss League. But of course a team can withdraw at any time, regardless of the competition.”

“I find this communication from Olten, let’s put it this way, suboptimal. I don’t want to say much more about it, but I do want to consistently reject this attack. Because, among other things, we should not forget what and who led to this situation and that, after the Swiss League tried in vain to become independent, we took over and did everything we could to stabilize the league. The Swiss League was without a marketing partner or TV partner and the clubs provided a monthly allowance for the people employed by Swiss League AG. When the SIHF took over the management of the Swiss league again, we helped the clubs of the Swiss league in the 2023/24 season with 500,000 francs from the association’s capital. In addition, the SIHF provides various services, such as the management of the competition, the support of the entire OTT platform including production, the entire communication support of the Swiss League with the content team, the complete management of the media rights of the Swiss League, marketing, financial processing or the use of the entire IT infrastructure. The SIHF offers all these services without charging the clubs a fee. I do not appreciate that our employees, who work every day for the SIHF and therefore also for the Swiss League, accuse us of doing nothing.”

«We are working on marketing for the next season and meetings have already taken place. We are also in good discussions with TV partner Sky about the coming season and we will be in discussions with CH Media in the coming weeks. We will soon hire someone else to take more care of the marketing of the Swiss League. Personally, I am also in discussions with possible future partners and trying to make the Swiss League’s attractive product attractive to them. If certain people then shoot from the hip and create negative headlines, it is not helpful or effective.

“We are currently in the process of creating a task force to determine what the entire competition structure could look like in the future. There are different scenarios for this. It is important to agree on the realistic three to four and submit them for consultation. Our focus is to provide the athlete with the best possible athlete path. In attractive competitions in which the players can develop optimally. Nothing will change in the short term for the 24/25 season, purely due to its short-term nature and the ability to plan. Our goal is to be able to present in the autumn what the competition structure should look like from the 2025/26 season, so that orderly planning can take place. A major theme is always: is our democracy a curse or a blessing? Ultimately, a majority must say yes to this. It is clear that garden variety thinking is out of place, especially in the current situation, and that we must look for the best possible solutions for Swiss ice hockey in the future if we want to move forward together.

“It is common knowledge that this would probably be for the best. That will certainly be a scenario, but I don’t think it is realistic for the National League to go back to twelve teams in terms of 2025/2026, while we need a solution.

“This is also a scenario. A second highest division with 12 to 16 teams, possibly in the East and West groups, the best of which ultimately get the chance to play for promotion. The big challenge is that we create a structure in which the athletes can develop as best as possible on their way to the National League. What is needed is a competitive second league that operates at the highest possible level of sport. The idea of ​​advancing Swiss hockey and putting it at the center must be lived at all levels. We also have to be willing to try something and want to make a change, even if the best solution may not work right away.”

Source : Blick