6 October: Hockey Business Forum & NHL Season Opener
The Alliance of European Hockey Clubs has announced that the 2018 E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum will take place on Saturday 6 October in Gothenburg in connection with the NHL Season Opener between the Edmonton Oilers and the New Jersey Devils at the Scandinavium arena. On Friday 5 October, special guests and members of the E.H.C. will be invited by the SHL's Frölunda Indians to their campus facility for a presentation of the club’s outstanding youth development program.
The 2018 E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum will be held the beautiful Gothia Towers Hotel (pictured above), right in downtown Gothenburg and next door to the Scandinavium arena, where the NHL Season Opener will take place.
Day 1 – with the visit at Frölunda Campus – primarily targets people who are involved in the various hockey clubs’ youth academies, including the General Managers or Directors of Sport of European hockey clubs.
Day 2 – with the E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum – is mainly designed for club people holding the positions of president, general manager, and in particular the executives who are responsible for the club’s business development and marketing activities.
Tentative Program: (exact times and specified presentations will be announced in due time)
Friday, 5 October:
Afternoon: Arrival and check-in at Gothia Towers Hotel
Late Afternoon: Bus to Frölunda Campus. Tour of facility and presentations by Frölunda
Evening: Dinner-buffet at Frölunda Campus & networking with Frölunda officials The Campus is only ten minutes away from the Gothia Towers Hotel.
Saturday, 6 October:
12:00 – 16:00 E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum
16:30 – 17:30 Buffet, mingle and networking
19:00 – 22:00 Edmonton Oilers vs. New Jersey Devils
Sunday, 7 October:
Departure
Registration for Day 1 and Day 2 events will be announced in due time and preference will be given to executives and officials from the 81 E.H.C. Member Clubs.
The Alliance of European Clubs has been organizing a meeting focused on the business side of hockey since 2016 when the E.H.C. was officially founded. That year, the event took place in Munich while last November 2017, the E.H.C. Hockey Business was organized at the Globen Hotel in Stockholm in conjunction with the NHL Global Series between the Ottawa Senators and the Colorado Avalanche.
“That Hockey Business Forum in Stockholm was such a success that we decided to continue with a similar setup, specially designed presentations about the business of hockey during the day with excellent networking opportunities for our member clubs and invited power brokers in the game and an NHL game in the evening,” said E.H.C. Managing Director Szymon Szemberg.
Click here for a short video from the 2017 E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum in Stockholm last November and here for the program and presenters.
“We will very soon start announcing the program and presenters for the event in October, but we can already promise that this will an upgrade over last year’s Business Forum,” said Szemberg.
“All our presentations will be tailor-made for the event, directly addressing the clubs’ needs and interest and all will be presented by well-known personalities in hockey or from the sports business industry. We will also have a celebrity moderator and one new feature will be a panel debate about the state and future of international club hockey with some of the main power-brokers in our game.”
Szemberg added: “I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to the National Hockey League which has secured an allocation of tickets to the season opener to our members.”
Those member clubs who will purchase the tickets via the E.H.C. will have an opportunity to see Connor McDavid, maybe the most spectacular player in the game today, along with European stars like Germany’s Leon Draisaitl, Finland’s Jesse Puljujärvi, Sweden’s Adam Larsson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with Edmonton, while the New Jersey Devils feature superb scorer Taylor Hall, Swiss 2017 No. 1 Draft pick Nico Hischier and the sensational Swedish rookie Jesper Bratt.
Three-time CHL finalist Frölunda invites to its Campus
But the biggest addition in comparison to the 2016 and 2017 events will be the unique opportunity to make this a two-day event and visit the training and development facility of the Frölunda Indians of the Swedish Hockey League on the day before the E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum.
For the members of the E.H.C. Alliance this will a very special occasion to get an insight into the club’s development program which is the main factor behind Frölunda’s modern-day success, that includes three consecutive Champions Hockey League finals (2015-2017), two CHL titles (2016-2017) and the SHL championship in 2016.
“We are honoured to work together with the E.H.C. Alliance to make this event as appreciated and worthwhile as possible to our partner clubs of the alliance,” said Christian Lechtaler, Frölunda’s CEO.
“We will make our key people in the sports department available to present to our guests what our philosophy is and what we believe are the main elements in running a successful hockey program, from youth, through junior up to the pro team in the SHL,” said Lechtaler.
Apart from the recent successes with the pro team and the numerous national junior titles, no other club in Europe has had so many junior players drafted and signed by the NHL since 2000 as the Gothenburg club. Overall, 74 players have been drafted from Frölunda over the years, but 59 in the last 17 seasons alone. No other European club is even close to these numbers.
The consensus No.1 overall selection for the 2018 NHL Draft is Rasmus Dahlin, who has been part of Frölunda’s Youth Academy since 2015. Add to that the over 40 Frölunda players who have gone on to play in the NHL.
“Our goal is to establish the E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum as hockey’s annual equivalent to the World Economic Forum in Davos,” said Szemberg. “A place where hockey executives meet each other but also other power brokers in the sports industry, to discuss and share best practices, all to improve the state of hockey, not only in Europe but also globally.”
As in Stockholm last year, the E.H.C. will make attending the Hockey Business Forum available to executives from the sports marketing and hockey industry, pending availability.
For any questions or requests to pre-register, send and an email to: european@hockeyclubs.eu and refer to “2018 E.H.C. Hockey Business Forum”.
The E.H.C. Member Clubs will receive their invitation and registration separately.
