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Marc Lüthi’s feathers are not trimmed so much that he becomes unable to fly. Image: KEYSTONE
Eismeister Zaugg
Trimmed springs by Marc Lüthis: the risk of new power relations in the SCB
With the entry of Mark Streit and the father of Roman Jose on the SCB board of directors, the balance of power in the largest hockey company in Europe has changed for the first time since 1998. A great sporting opportunity and risk at the same time .
It is unknown how large the shares in the SCB have acquired than Mark Streit and the Josi family. SCB shareholders are not visible. Estimates of around 15 percent each costing just under a million should not be completely wrong. But these property relationships don’t really matter. It is about the new distribution of power. And that depends on the votes on the board of directors and not on the number of shares of a board of directors.
Mark Streit has already announced in a preceding act of political correction that nothing will change in the tasks of Marc Lüthi and that there is a clear demarcation of the operational area. In fact, however, the prerequisites are now in place for the “King of Bern” feathers to be pruned a bit for the first time. This can be seen in the fact that, for the first time since 1998, Marc Lüthi has explicitly declined to comment publicly on a major SCB business.
SCB’s top manager consolidated his power in 2014. Since then, he is no longer just a co-owner and chairman of the board. He is also a member of the board. He sits on the committee that was supposed to control him. In theory, Marc Lüthi only implements what the Board of Directors specifies. In SCB real life, it had been the case since 1998 that the board of directors rejected what Marc Lüthi had proposed.
The SCB drove very well. At no time did SCB management allow itself to be guided by sports emotions when spending money. The SCB has only spent as much money as it has raised. This balance of money and sport has made SCB’s most successful sports company in Switzerland.
The only criticism was that the SCB invested very little in the sport, in the first team. As a result, major players (such as Leonardo Genoni) could no longer be retained or large transfers failed. This is one of the reasons why the champion “crashed” in the sport last season.
Leonardo Genoni is now at the door of EV Zug. Image: KEYSTONE
With Zug, Lions ZSC, Davos and Lugano, the SCB has four challengers who can inject foreign funds with billionaires as owners or patrons. Even if it is emphasized in all four places that this is not the case and one operates strictly in accordance with business principles: when it comes to a big transfer, the “extra bats” of the billionaires that make the difference flow. On the chessboard of transfer strategists, the last thousand bills are always decisive.
At SCB, the sports department is in the “straitjacket” of the budget specified by the board of directors. This financial straight jacket has not been loosened through extraordinary investment in recent years. The SCB does not have a “goddess” and the SCB board of directors has cost conscious numbers that have followed Marc Lüthi’s restrictive financial policy.
The question now is: will the SCB have to take more risks in the future and invest more in sports to keep up with the Zurich or Zug titans? We are still in the virus crisis. But once it is overcome, it will rock the hockey business again. A sports “perestroika” (change, redesign) is run at SCB through the Board of Directors. Now, for the first time since 1998, two representatives of the sport sit in this important SCB body: Mark Streit and Peter Josi, the father of Roman Josi.
NHL star Roman Josi is represented by his father Peter on the board of directors. Image: AP
With these two new boards, no additional sources of income will be used. Neither Mark Streit nor the Josi family will lose their minds and act as sponsors. The cheeky principle still applies: There is a way to make a small fortune from sports. By starting with a great fortune. The financial DNA of the SCB hockey group will not change due to the new board of directors.
But it’s also not about making money with the SCB. This is not possible because the SCB has never paid dividends since 1998, but has reinvested the money. These two new board members are about more than money: it is about bringing knowledge to an urban institution. It is an exciting new task. A great challenge A little bit also about a modern adventure and a little vanity and adrenaline. Otherwise Mark Streit will soon be bored. And recently, IIHF President René Fasel warned in small circles that the mistake of underestimating Mark Streit should not be made.
Mark Streit and the Josi family are more important than sports director Florence Schelling, not just because of their vast network of relationships and hockey knowledge. With two seats on the board of directors, they can also be opened for sports, that is: for greater investments in sports, for a greater budget for the sports department. They only have two out of six votes, but when a Stanley Cup winner and the father of the Nashville Predators captain mention them at a board meeting, they carry so much weight that a request against the will and Marc Lüthi’s voice went out. can transmit.
SCB’s new sports director, Florence Schelling. Image: KEYSTONE
These new power relations are not entirely without economic risk. However, since the new board members are Ur Bernese and have every interest in the well-being of the Urbian institution SCB, there are no financial adventures to fear.
Anyone who objects that it is a bit far-fetched and controversial to speak of trimmed power springs in Marc Lüthi may not be completely wrong. Let us put it this way: Marc Lüthi’s feathers are not pruned so much that he becomes unable to fly. But they will be colored more sporty by new board members. SCB’s Board of Directors is now younger, more dynamic, sportier, and riskier to a healthy degree. Or even simpler: a fresh wind blows through SCB’s offices.
Actually, that is enough to make the SCB a top candidate again in the medium term.
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