BOULDER, Colorado -- SKA-Zabaikalets-Energia Chita announced December 26th that they would no longer be competing in the Russian Bandy League due to financial difficulties, the website Bandynet.ru reported.
Before the season began Zabaikalets was facing money troubles, as they were forced to fire their coaching staff and still had player salaries in arrears from last season. The team was also plagued by problems with its stadium and lost its lease at SKA SibVO due to its inability to pay rent.
Zabaikalets played their last game December 24th in Kemerovo, a 10-2 loss to Kuzbass. The Chita side made the trip with a skeleton crew of players, and just two days later announced they were folding.
After the announcement, Chita's coach Viktor Zakharov was beside himself. "I have [players] here who came to games hungry - they didn't get paid, they were thrown out of their stadium. There's no one here; clearly, nobody needs hockey," he said.
In other troubling news, AMNGR-Murman Murmansk canceled their road trip to Pervouralsk and Ulyanovsk for matches scheduled January 6th and 9th. The team said the cancellation was due to money shortages.
The Murmansk hockey association has issued a request to the Russian Bandy Federation to reschedule to games against Uralsky Trubnik and Volga for later in the season. But could this be a sign that the West Division will also be cut to 10 teams if AMNGR cannot get the resources together to continue their season?
Showing posts with label team finance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label team finance. Show all posts
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Monday, August 27, 2007
AMNGR-Murman Receives Funding from Regional Government
BOULDER, Colorado -- Struggling bandy club AMNGR-Murman Murmansk received good news Monday when the government of the Murmansk Region announced it would provide funding for the team this upcoming season, according to the regional news agency Bi-Port.
The funding comes as part of a budget passed for supporting physical education and sports in the region in 2007-2010. As a result, the team will now be able to participate in the regular season tournament as well as some international play.
Due to financial difficulties, the team has been unable to play in the first round of the Russian Cup, currently taking place in Moscow.
The team got into these dire straits partly as a result of changes to the play-off format last season. AMNGR-Murman was forced to make several road trips to Siberia and the Far East for play-off games, and the unanticipated travel costs totaled approximately 5 million rubles (US$200,000), according to the governor of the Murmansk Region.
The new funding package for the team includes discretionary funding for this season should similar unexpected costs arise.
The funding comes as part of a budget passed for supporting physical education and sports in the region in 2007-2010. As a result, the team will now be able to participate in the regular season tournament as well as some international play.
Due to financial difficulties, the team has been unable to play in the first round of the Russian Cup, currently taking place in Moscow.
The team got into these dire straits partly as a result of changes to the play-off format last season. AMNGR-Murman was forced to make several road trips to Siberia and the Far East for play-off games, and the unanticipated travel costs totaled approximately 5 million rubles (US$200,000), according to the governor of the Murmansk Region.
The new funding package for the team includes discretionary funding for this season should similar unexpected costs arise.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Raketa Kazan Still on Shaky Financial Ground
BOULDER, Colorado -- Raketa Kazan was looking forward to the 2007-08 season - with new financial backing, the club had bought nine new players, including five Swedes and two Finns. These purchases turned the perennial also-ran into an immediate contender, but their new-found wealth has all but disappeared, and club officials fear they may not be able to operate at all this season, Sovetsky Sport reported in its July 23 issue.
Former club president and principal sponsor Nikolai Kolesov signed these new player deals, reportedly offering salaries of US$20,000-$25,000 per month, sums almost unheard of in professional bandy. But in May, Kolesov was appointed governor of the Amur Region of Siberia, and since leaving Kazan, he has failed to pay any of the team's bills or player salaries.
Kolesov remains the official president of the team, but general manager Valery Nosov and the accounting staff have been unable to contact him to resolve the financial crisis by either receiving funds from Kolesov or seeking new sponsorship, which would also require his approval, Sovetsky Sport reported.
Five of the new players have already been released by the team - these players had existing contracts with other clubs, and Raketa had never paid transfer fees, meaning they returned to their old teams without ever setting foot in Kazan. These players included Petteri Lampinen and Per Nilsson from Edsbyns IF, Patrik Nilsson from Sandvikens AIK, and Johan Andersson and Daniel Mossberg from Zorky Krasnogorsk.
As for the players signed who were not under contract, Andreas Bergwall has returned to Swedish club Hammarby IF, while Sami Lakkonen has returned to Zorky. The two Russian players - Pavel Frantz and Alexei Chizhov - have decided to leave the team as well, signing with their previous Russian clubs.
Raketa's former sponsor was Elekon, a state-owned factory that manufactures heat exchangers. Last year Elekon sold the club to Kolesov, along with a promise that the company would support the team for the next 10 years. However, it appears as if Elekon has withdrawn its financing, and Kolesov is nowhere to be found.
Raketa is still searching for new sources of funding, as well as its former boss, but they have managed to field a team for the Russian Cup, one that is likely to come up well short of the promises made this off-season.
Former club president and principal sponsor Nikolai Kolesov signed these new player deals, reportedly offering salaries of US$20,000-$25,000 per month, sums almost unheard of in professional bandy. But in May, Kolesov was appointed governor of the Amur Region of Siberia, and since leaving Kazan, he has failed to pay any of the team's bills or player salaries.
Kolesov remains the official president of the team, but general manager Valery Nosov and the accounting staff have been unable to contact him to resolve the financial crisis by either receiving funds from Kolesov or seeking new sponsorship, which would also require his approval, Sovetsky Sport reported.
Five of the new players have already been released by the team - these players had existing contracts with other clubs, and Raketa had never paid transfer fees, meaning they returned to their old teams without ever setting foot in Kazan. These players included Petteri Lampinen and Per Nilsson from Edsbyns IF, Patrik Nilsson from Sandvikens AIK, and Johan Andersson and Daniel Mossberg from Zorky Krasnogorsk.
As for the players signed who were not under contract, Andreas Bergwall has returned to Swedish club Hammarby IF, while Sami Lakkonen has returned to Zorky. The two Russian players - Pavel Frantz and Alexei Chizhov - have decided to leave the team as well, signing with their previous Russian clubs.
Raketa's former sponsor was Elekon, a state-owned factory that manufactures heat exchangers. Last year Elekon sold the club to Kolesov, along with a promise that the company would support the team for the next 10 years. However, it appears as if Elekon has withdrawn its financing, and Kolesov is nowhere to be found.
Raketa is still searching for new sources of funding, as well as its former boss, but they have managed to field a team for the Russian Cup, one that is likely to come up well short of the promises made this off-season.
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