Eero Broman will not run for president of the Finnish Sports Association.
The sports association will elect a new chairman on April 15. Illustration image. Roni Lehti
One of the significant influencers of Finnish business life Eero Broman60, will not run for president of the Finnish Sports Association.
– There could be interest in anything, but I don’t feel that it is my place. Although I am a passionate athletics person, I try to be involved in other ways, says Broman.
– The chairmanship of the sports association takes a lot of time, so you have to have a really burning desire for that task, continues the man who works in the management of Broman Group and Motonet.
The sports association’s 40-strong federal council will elect the chairman on April 15.
– It’s the worst place when Sami Itani unable to continue. He did such a great job. I hope the new chairman is a good, dynamic and cooperative person.
So far, the union’s acting president has publicly run for the presidency of the Sports Confederation. chairman Riikka Pakarinen.
Itani withdrew from the position last year due to health reasons.
Along with Broman, the CEO of Nokia, who is part of the board of the Swedish Sports Confederation, has refused to run for chairman Pekka Lundmark.
Main sponsor
Business influencer Eero Broman is the high jump bronze medalist at the 1985 World Championships. OUTI LAKE
Broman’s name came up in boss speculation, as he is the director of Motonet, the main partner of the Sports Confederation, and the high jump bronze medalist from 1985.
Motonet became the title sponsor of the main domestic athletics competition series for the summer of 2018. Previously, the series of events was known as elite competitions.
– Brand visibility was the main reason when we joined. And the whole thing was interesting, says Broman.
– The partnership has borne fruit. We have gained visibility and positive publicity, he continues.
The Motonet GP concept is quite functional, but its problem has been the high turnover of the level of competitions. For example, last season a rather modest event was held in Tampere, and correspondingly, some of the events in the competition series have been similar to the finals of the Kaleva Games.
Broman says that after last season, he underlined to the management of the Sports Association that the level of the GP games in the future cannot be as high as in the summer of 2022.
– The sports federation made a decision last fall that in the future all Motonet GPs will be in accordance with the bronze level category of the European Athletics Federation, so the level will rise. That’s definitely a good thing.
International athletics competitions could roughly be divided into four different stages.
The highest level is the Diamond League.
The second highest is the golden league. Turku’s Paavo Nurmi Games belongs to this level.
Then there are the silver and bronze levels. The midsummer competitions in Kuortanene, which this year are held a week before midsummer, are at the silver level.