Dmitry Chernyshenko: "The KHL is ready to make unpopular decisions"

President of Russia Vladimir Putin has chaired a meeting of the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport, and among those who spoke at the gathering was KHL President Dmitry Chernyshenko.

The event took place on Tuesday, the 23rd of May, in Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar, and was dedicated to the issue of government funding to assist teams or athletes from a wide range of sports and to encourage more people to take up sporting activity for a healthier lifestyle.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, President of the Kontinental Hockey League, addressed the gathering and spoke of the financial viability of clubs in the KHL and the allocation of funds to support a variety of measures intended to improve and promote the game of hockey.

“Such support for sport is a task for us all, but few would argue that it is the professional leagues and clubs which supply the personnel for our national teams. And professional sports should aspire to be financially sustainable. The KHL has just returned a profit for the third year running, but on average 52% of the clubs’ budgets derive in some way from state funding, and not all the teams spend this money in a way that justifies these subsidies. As a result, the League has developed a set of measures designed to raise the level of competitiveness and to increase demand for the product.

We are also increasingly active in attracting some formidable new member clubs. A recent example is Kunlun Red Star of Beijing, whose arrival has seriously expanded our marketing prospects in terms of raising additional income. With our product – a League set up in Russia with headquarters in Moscow – we can and should be pulling in revenue on the Asian and European markets. We are doing this. Our television rights, our main source, have already been sold to 28 countries, and we need to increase that number.

At the same time, however, we must reduce costs, and we can do this by lowering the wage ceiling. Tomorrow the KHL Board of Directors has its meeting, at which we shall discuss these measures. It might be necessary to make some unpopular decisions, but we cannot please everyone. Clubs that are unable to meet certain criteria will have to search for openings in other leagues, but the overall effect will be the release of funds from the budget, especially in the regions. These measures are aimed at improving all hockey operations and enhancing the prestige and quality of the League as our product. And the funds which will be made available, including the funding our clubs receive from the state, can be directed at strengthening the national teams. In tackling this issue, we will cooperate closely with the Russian Hockey Federation.”