Dmitry Chernyshenko, who was appointed president of the Kontinental Hockey League in late '14 after heading the Sochi 2014 organizing committee, discussed the league's financial situation, salary cap and floor and the clubs' infrastructure.
Q: What changes await the KHL in the new season? Are any newcomers expected in the league?
Dmitry Chernyshenko: Just like in the previous seasons, 28 clubs, divided into two conferences and four divisions, are to take part in the competition. Thanks to substantial collaborative work between the league and local authorities, entrepreneurs and personally [president] Vladimir Putin and [KHL chairman of the board] Gennady Timchenko, we have been able to save many clubs that were having problems. In comparison with last season, there will be just one change. The slot of Atlant Moscow Region in the Western Conference and Bobrov Division will be taken by Spartak Moscow, which is returning to KHL.
Q: What steps is the league going to take to make sure that all the clubs are financially sound?
Chernyshenko: KHL is introducing stricter financial requirements for the clubs. Now, all financial guarantees need to be supported with legally binding documents.
Q: Is KHL introducing a salary cap and floor as of the new season, as it was previously discussed?
Chernyshenko: A decision has been made about a salary cap, which will be gradually lowered: 1,050 million rubles [$16.4 million] in the 2015-2016 season, then 950 million rubles [$14.9 million] in the 2016-2017 season and 900 million rubles [$14.1 million] in the 2017-2018 season. This measure should improve the clubs' financial health and stabilize the situation in the entire league. The league studied possible effects of the introduction of a salary floor and decided that the issue needs to be further explored.
Q: What steps are to be made to help increase the clubs' revenues?
Chernyshenko: For the first time in history, the league distributed about 100 million rubles between the clubs after the last season, recommending that the money be spent on development and modernization programs and improving services for viewers at the arenas. The league has also run a tender for production and distribution of content for [its TV channel] KHL TV. The company NTV Plus won the contract, and a five-year agreement will allow KHL to save up to 30 percent of its spendings and improve the quality of KHL TV thanks to the use of the country's most professional television team in the sports area. One of the main aspects of KHL's new strategy, adopted in February 2015, is attraction of wider TV audiences, especially youths and family. We have already reached an agreement with the new federal network Match TV [which is to go on the air in September 2015] about slots for the most important and interesting games. We want the viewer to get used to the fact that a super-spectacular match will be aired by the network every Monday night. In addition, KHL is introducing new requirements for arenas' technical equipment, including lighting, to make sure that the TV picture is more interesting and attractive.
Q: What is your assessment of the clubs' infrastructure, and what could be done to improve it?
Chernyshenko: The previous season showed us that the record-breaking attendance at KHL arenas is taking us closer to a point when capacity limit is reached, and some clubs already are at that point. A need for building new and contemporary arenas is obvious, and for some clubs it is more pressing than for others. We have been repeatedly talking about such hockey-centered cities as Yekaterinburg, Nizhni Novgorod and Novosibirsk. We understand that a club's desire to develop its infrastructure is often not enough, they need to secure support from regional and local authorities. The Sverdlovsk regional government has developed a plan for building a new, 12,000-seat arena by 2020. In Novosibirsk and Nizhni Novgorod, projects of new arenas that have to satisfy fans' increasing interest have also been developed.
Vladimir Kozlov is a writer in Moscow.
