Russia's KHL Emblematic Of Country's Rising Sports Profile
Russia is “again an emerging market,” and sports, “once considered a luxury, are back on center stage,” according to an extensive look at the country's sports landscape by Andrew Meier of N.Y. TIMES’ PLAY MAGAZINE. Across Russia, “dozens of sleek stadiums, arenas and rinks are rising.” The state and a “host of petro-rich biznesmeny have invested billions into a new generations of pro clubs -- and the results have stunned Europe.” The Continental Hockey League (KHL) in its inaugural season has “already raised expectations at home and fears” in the U.S., as the league is a “deliberate, and direct, slap shot at the NHL.” The KHL boasts 24 clubs and a “porous salary cap for each team” of US$24M. Former NHLer RW Jaromir Jagr in July signed with KHL team Avangard Omsk, and there are “plenty of familiar faces to keep him company,” as the league has “lured dozens of former NHL players.” Instead of Russian players moving west, NHL players -- “many but by no means all of them Russian -- are heading east.” Seventy-seven Russians played in the NHL in ’01, compared to 26 now. KHL Chair Slava Fetisov said of signing Jagr, “We needed a superstar. Someone who we could hold up to the world and say, ‘Look who wants to come to Russia, to play for Russian fans.’ That’s the difference, the way Russia will change world sports.”
SKATING BY: Avangard coach Wayne Fleming said, “I’ve always thought the [NHL has] wanted to do something big in Europe, like a division.” But Jagr said of the NHL, “I think they’ve missed it. The Russians are ahead of them.” Fetisov: “I warned [NHL Commissioner] Gary Bettman five years ago. You’ve got your business model, but if you take the best players out of Europe and Russia for cheap -- you’ll kill the game, and your own market.” More Fetisov: “For years I’ve tried to tell Americans to think big. Look beyond Russia and Europe. What about Asia? China? Even in India they play field hockey. Why can’t the NHL see it? They’re afraid. They want to preserve their market. Now it’s too late. We’re gonna take our market share. And you’ll see, it’ll be good for the game.”
POLITICAL MUSCLE: Meier writes the “ultimate power in Russian pro sports remains political." Andrei Illarionov, a former economic adviser to former Russian President Vladimir Putin, said, “The oligarchs are fighting each other for the chance to sponsor a team. But it’s not their initiative. It’s an order from the Kremlin. It was Putin, and now [KHL President Alexander] Medvedev, who tells them to support this or that team.” Jagr said of Avangard’s business ledger, “They don’t care about the money. It’s about the oil. It’s all about sponsors here, and no sponsor’s going to get their money back. If the oil is sponsoring you, and the price of oil went up three times, instead of making whatever, $100[M] a day, you get $300[M] a day.” Avangard President Konstantin Potapov: “It’s not a business. This is sports -- we’re blessed with backers, people who give money not for a return in profits” (PLAY MAGAZINE, 11/ ’08 issue).
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