Kiekko-Espoo received good news on Wednesday.
Kiekko-Espo, which plays in Mesti, has been granted a conditional league license for the SM league for the 2024–25 season.
– Feelings are good. For a long time, it has been the goal to play the League next autumn and now we are a big step closer to it, the club president Amy Rubinstein blowing
The license is conditional because the negotiations between the Espoo club and the League regarding the requirements for the promotion are still incomplete.
The biggest question is the price of the league stock. League President Heikki Hiltunen confirmed its value to Yle at 3.67 million euros, but according to Rubinstein “the process is still in progress”.
In Ylen’s story was presentedthat Kiekko-Espoo does not want to pay such a large sum, but tries to negotiate it down to 1.8 million, which for example Jukurit and KooKoo paid at the time.
– We will comment when we have a view on it. At the moment, we don’t have exact information about what it would be, says Rubinstein.
– We need to get the details right so that we know what we are paying for, when we are paying and how much. But basically, we have faith that things will go in such a way that the League will be played in the fall.
Additional explanations
Kiekko-Espoo is making a return to the SM league. The last time the club appeared in the main league under the same name was in the 1997–98 season. AOP/Petri Saarelainen
The league’s announcement on Wednesday mentions the additional clarifications that Kiekko-Espoo still needs to submit in order to become eligible for the league.
– I can’t open them terribly precisely, but of course the jump from Mestis to Liiga is a big one. Then it is important from both our and the League’s point of view that the preparation for the league transfer proceeds according to plans. It’s more about trying to verify from both sides that certain capabilities have been achieved, says Rubinstein.
– The hall is in line with the league requirements, there is nothing wrong with it, but it is more about growing one’s own operations in the direction of being able to operate in the League. How certain revenue streams will develop moving forward to the realization of the goals set in the league budget for next season.
The deadline for providing reports is in March.
According to Rubinstein, things have been prepared for the model that Espoo will return to the league map.
– Now we have to make things develop so that we are ready.
The last time men’s ice hockey was played in Tapiola at the highest league level was in the 2015–16 season. At that time the club was called Espoo Blues.