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Tuesday will fix what BLICK was still speculating on Monday: the cancellation of the Spengler Cup. Since the premiere in 1923, the fixed point on the sports calendar between Christmas and New Years has only been canceled for the fifth time. “Even with the best protection concept, a hockey festival like the one we are used to would not have been possible,” said OC President and HCD CEO Marc Gianola, explaining the decision. “The highest priority in our evaluation was always the health of the participating teams and that they could return to their countries of origin in good health. We cannot give this guarantee. “
In the Covid pandemic, the traditional club tournament faces the same problems as other major events and international events. The international ice hockey federation IIHF has already canceled all tournaments with the exception of the U-20 World Cup in Canada.
In Edmonton, the under-20s are quartered in a bubble, as it was during the NHL playoffs, with no spectators. A successful model: The NHL did not register any positive cases, only possible thanks to the strictest regulations and the iron discipline of those involved. For the Spengler Cup, such a scenario is completely unthinkable for a variety of reasons (logical and logistical).
Impossible folk festival atmosphere
International travel and the quarantine regulations linked to them, the important restrictions in the stadium itself and in the hospitality areas, as well as the general uncertainty in the areas of tourism, gastronomy and nightlife. This is not a climate in which the Spengler Cup can flourish in the desired way.
Sponsors and partners use the Spengler Cup as a stage to offer their customers something in a magical setting, to pamper and entertain them. On and next to the ice. A folk festival atmosphere, as usual, cannot emerge in the conditions of Corona.
Different variants were discussed, a tournament with several or even exclusively with Swiss teams or a return to the old way with five teams. These mind games failed due to reality and uncertainty about the development of the crisis. In HCD, this crisis will cause a loss of two to five million francs, depending on how it goes. One thing is clear: no one can afford a second season under these conditions.
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