Continental hockey League will not cut the number of clubs in season 2019/20. This was announced during the meeting of the Board of Directors of the organization. KHL President Dmitry Chernyshenko told about the possible expansion of the League and invite teams from Europe and Asia, and also called a teams that have financial debt and problems with salaries.
- © khl.ru
Exclusion of clubs
Given the fact that over the past two years, the participants CHL decreased by four clubs, and at the end of the current season was said about the possible exclusion of another team, this question was most worried about before the meeting of the Board of Directors of the League. As stated by the President of the KHL Dmitry Chernyshenko, to season-2019/20 number of the team had to reduce from 25 to 24. Among the main candidates for expulsion appeared “Admiral”, “Cupid”, “Severstal” and the Slovak “Slovan”, which so far has not provided financial guarantees for performance next year.
Also
The bullet Bilyaletdinov, 14 goals in the match for third place and the victory of the Chernyshev division in Kazan has passed the Match of stars KHL
In Kazan hosted the annual KHL all-star game. The victory was won by players from division Chernyshev, beaten in the final rivals from…
“We are not happy with the situation with the “Slovan”, the exhibition matches too. Other words, like shame, is not called. I met with the owners of the club, they presented a plan. If it is implemented, the team will play and will show good results. Let’s hope that will happen,” hoped the head of the League.
In spite of existing strategy and heavy as some of the clubs of the KHL decided to allow the 25 teams to participate in the next season.
“The Board of Directors considered that the exclusion of clubs that are on the extreme points of the geography of the KHL, could adversely affect the formation of divisions and the further development of the League. As a result, was requested to establish a working group to examine the structure of the divisions in geographic expansion,” reads the official statement of the press service of the KHL.
Expansion of the League
As it turned out, the KHL not only intends to reduce the number of members of the League, but also thinking about to increase it. So, in the leadership seriously discussed the creation of an “Asian” division.
“Mathematically, we found that the optimal number of clubs — 24. Now, the League voted to have 25 teams, given that we will have to expand far Eastern division. I have to agree with this decision, not because of corporate solidarity, but because of the fact that Gennady Nikolaevich (Timchenko — RT) proposed to consider the change of logistics in the championship”, — quotes Chernyshenko “championship”.
According to him, the emergence of new divisions in the West and far East will lead to the fact that inside will be a large number of games.
“This new approach, we need to calculate and understand. I do not exclude that in this case the number of clubs in the KHL may increase. The exact figure? Let’s not speculate, it will be a mathematical calculation,” — said the President of the KHL.
At this point in the NHL already speaks Chinese “Kunlun Red star”, but in the future the League can join the teams from South Korea and Uzbekistan. So, on March 15 in Tashkent was opened “Humo arena”, after which it became known about creation of the local hockey club.
In addition, recently there were rumors about a possible entry into the KHL from the two clubs from South Korea, but Chernyshenko has denied them.
“You have not heard about it. If even one team, it would have been nice. After the Olympics in Pyeongchang we were expecting that the national team could become a club. We have yet to see initiative from the respected Korean comrades”, — said the functionary.
He said that in the future in China may receive another hockey club. This is despite the fact that the “Kunlun” is antiracismnet League attendance.
“Despite temporary difficulties with the arena for “Kunlun” and some other issues are likely in the near future in China will be another club of level KHL. Also of interest for Japan, let’s not forget about the rapid return of Uzbekistan. The following season the team from Tashkent will play in the KHL”, — said Chernyshenko.
The head of the KHL also commented on the possible expansion to the West, noting that the composition of the League can join the clubs of the European countries.
“The most specific options are France and Germany”, — said the President.
The rating of clubs and financial debt
Despite the absence of exceptions, the leadership of the League has published the updated rating of the KHL clubs. On the first line rose, the Finnish “Jokerit”, which is ahead of St. Petersburg SKA and CSKA Moscow. In the fourth position moved “AK bars”, and the powerful surge had managed to Riga “Dinamo”. And this despite the fact that at the moment, the Latvian team has not provided financial guarantees for performance in the next season.
“Clubs had to comply with the requirements of the rules. Financial guarantees provided 23 club, Dinamo Riga and Slovan has requested a delay. The Board of Directors approved up to 30 April 2019,” — said Chernyshenko.
In the “basement” of the rating were mainly the teams with financial debt. So, such problems are “Sibir”, “Slovan” and “Admiral” and “torpedo”, which appeared in the list on the 14th position.
“There are debts (salary) from three clubs. “Slovan” — continuing, “torpedo” and “Siberia” — time not in excess of the threshold rules in two months,” — said the functionary.
- Ranking of KHL clubs
- © Official website of the KHL
He also said that the Novosibirsk team is payable on the termination of contracts, and “Admiral” has debts under the salary in the previous seasons. However, overall in the KHL noted the positive dynamics in this issue.
“In season 2017/18, the debt was in 6 clubs, in season 2016/17 — 11. The total outstanding commands compared to the same period last season reduced by 25%,” — said the President of the KHL.
Hidden rent and salary cap
Recently, one of the loudest venue in the League was hidden rental players. In hockey, this phenomenon is forbidden, but that’s not stopping some clubs from conducting similar frauds. In the NHL often there were cases when the player for some time went to another team and gain experience back.
As reported in the leadership of the League, the audits were identified contracts that can be attributed to the hidden lease.
“The Board of Directors instructed the League to deal with this issue. This will create a working group on the regulation of rental players. The working group will include representatives of the clubs KHL and responsible staff,” — said in a press release.
Also
The wedding mascots, a penalty shot from Sychev and the song on the ice: in Kazan the master-show of stars KHL
On 19 January for “Tatneft Arena” in Kazan was held the annual wizard show the Kontinental hockey League. He won a landslide victory…
In addition, according to the development plan, in season 2020/21 in the KHL will act hard salary cap. Thus, teams will not be able to conclude contracts for the sum more than 900 million rubles.
“Now the active phase of recruitment teams. All clubs should understand that, by signing contracts with players. I want to note that we are already seeing the budgets. The difference between top 5 and the last five teams have already dropped by 15%: from 5.8 to 4.9 times. This index is still not satisfied, we will continue actions to increase competitiveness,” — said Chernyshenko.
However, he also noted positive developments in this matter, saying that at the moment wage ceiling not exceed 17 of the 25 clubs in the KHL.
“This is a good result. In the risk zone there are eight clubs, four of them painlessly overcome this barrier. More difficult will be the top teams. Mostly we see that the excess of the salary cap is due to the fact that the fourth five overpaid compared to the first”, — said the head of the League.
According to him, in the NHL players four level get at 7-11 times less than the starting players, the KHL is 2-6 times smaller.
“It is a source of optimization, so we did not have overpaid middle peasants. On the contrary, we wish we had more highly paid stars” — concluded Chernyshenko.