Just 16 days before the actual games begin, representatives of the 2014-15 Champions Hockey League member clubs met in Zurich on Tuesday to discuss various topics, mostly related to gameday operations.

by Andreas Reiner

ZURICH - A majority of the 44 clubs who will participate in the 2014-15 Champions Hockey League met in the Novotel Hotel, close to Zurich Airport, to receive important updates on topics such as sales, marketing, merchandise, broadcasting, statistics, player registration, media and game supervision, among other things.

The presentation was held by the CEO of European Ice Hockey Club Competition Martin Baumann, Marketing & Event Director Patrick Jost, COO and Communications Director Szymon Szemberg, and other experts.

Starting with some exciting news for fans, available merchandise will include caps, beanies, T-shirts, sweaters and, of course, replica jerseys. Every club will be able to choose which articles they want to provide to their fans. The players gear will be shipped out shortly and every team was handed 30 game pucks at the end of the day along with a CHL banner. As far as actual game presentation, the teams were informed that fan entertainment, mascots, player intros, and anything that will enhance the experience for the fan in front of the TV and in the arena, are welcome.

Of course there were some unpleasant topics that needed to be addressed, such as sanctions for no-shows to games. For example, not playing a game during the group stage will be penalised with a EUR 125 000 fine, and should a finalist not be prepared to suit up, half a million euros will be forfeited. Obviously no one expects such a scenario but the CHL, as organiser, wants to be on the safe side and broadcasting contracts can be costly.

During the short lunch break, the marketing and media staff of the various clubs had a chance to chat, exchange business cards and discuss agreements for the upcoming games. Asked what the players are looking forward to, ZSC Lions Zurich media contact Roger Gemperle answered, "The chance to play other teams. We play teams in our league four or five times during the regular season so this is a welcome opportunity to test our skills against international competition."

For sure this pan-European competition will require clubs to do more travelling, but some clubs are used to that already. "Travelling won't change much as we already do some of the longest trips being the northernmost club in the CHL and SHL," said Luleå's Jocke Darhammer, whose club it situated in the far north of Sweden.

Martin Zöllner, IT Director of the IIHF, then continued with the introduction of statistics used for pre- and post-game, as well as in-game stats and how they will be available for the media and also fans.

Szymon Szemberg then continued by presenting everything involving communication. He informed the attendees that 40 to 60 reporters will be covering each club, providing live blogs, news and updates. Each country has a Country Manager with specific roles to ensure coverage of each team. Social media will be involved through channels such as Twitter and Facebook, and clubs will be able to connect their Twitter feeds to the championshockeyleague.net website. Fans will be provided with free highlights of games the day after and pay-per-view will enable everyone to watch their favourite teams live on various devices. All clubs present were informed that all teams have been correctly registered and approximately 1400 photographs of players will be uploaded to the official CHL website.

Something that will be new to many media representatives is that, in addition to the ordinary pre- and post-game media conference, the interviewers will get a chance to enter the locker rooms shortly after the game ends to get quotations and comments from players and coaching staff. It will be interesting to see how this new situation works for European clubs; the NHL has a history with this procedure.

Last but not least, Sports Director Bo Lennartsson spoke about on-ice officials, video replay, and the disciplinary committee that will be used for the tournament, among other topics. During the group stage, one referee will travel from abroad to call the the game with one home referee and two home linesmen, while during the play off stage, two referees from neutral countries will blow the whistles together with two linesmen from the home country. As for the final, all four on-ice officials will come from countries other than the two finalists.

At the end, Patrick Jost informed everyone that once the group stage is complete, a draw for the knock-out stage will take place, and he added that teams from the same country can meet. The draw will take place in Zurich on 10 October.

"There's much positive spirit from all clubs involved. Everyone wants this to work," said Martin Baumann, the league CEO. "The only negative feedback we've received is that the KHL is not part of the CHL this season, but if you look at the current political situation, many clubs aren't unhappy about that today. But our goal is definitely to have the KHL involved, provided they accept the set-up and rules of the new CHL."

"Hockey a very popular team sport; what distinguishes hockey is the respect for each other, on and off the ice, whether it's for the officials or teammates," explained Jost about marketing hockey as opposed to other sports. "It may not be as high-grossing yet as some other sports but there's a huge potential with the new CHL to be number two in team sports behind football. Hockey has loyal fans, it's fast and action-packed and therefore has all opportunities to be successful."

With only two weeks to go, the anticipation of the new Champions Hockey League continues to rise, and it's expected to provide European hockey fans with a level of international club action that has been missed for the last five years.