Effects of the pandemic

All possible areas have been affected, including private, business and sporting life. Only a few areas have not been affected by the crisis, including online casinos, for example. A visit to Casinopilot24 to see the latest online casinos, immediately shows the new providers in October.

However, sport is not doing so well

Unfortunately, the effects of the pandemic on sport have been severe. For example, professional and recreational leagues had to be suspended temporarily. In the meantime, some professional leagues, from football and ice hockey to handball, have been able to resume play. This is an enormously important step, as television revenue is finally flowing again.

Looking at the situation in ice hockey, it has been difficult in some cases to get back up and running. The National Hockey League hopes to be able to resume play in January. Unlike in football, revenue generated through television is not particularly high. The main sources of income here are ticket sales as well as sponsorship revenue. The financial impact on ice hockey clubs has been enormous.

The season was ended early

In Germany, a decision was made relatively early to abandon the 2019/20 season, with Austria taking a similar approach. This decision hit the league clubs hard, as from that point onwards they had no further sources of income. In some cases, sponsors had paid the sponsorship money to the clubs at the start of the season. However, these companies now receive no consideration in return. This is a very difficult situation for all parties involved.

There will be no continuation of the previous season in Germany. The clubs are currently endeavouring to make the best possible use of the time by preparing for the coming season. Above all, however, the clubs are trying to put themselves on a sound financial footing. The Kölner Haie are currently in a particularly good position, as they can look forward to continuing their partnership with their existing main sponsor RheinEnergie.

Changes are imminent among the sponsors

There are also changes regarding the league's sponsors in the DEL. Lindner Hotels AG will serve as the official DEL hotel partner from the coming season. Although the hotel chain has suffered major losses in revenue due to coronavirus in recent weeks, the referees, among others, can also look forward to this partnership. They will be able to stay at the hotels of the well-known hotel chain for their future ice hockey matches.

It can therefore be said that the Deutsche Eishockey-Liga remains well positioned in terms of sponsors. SAP continues to be one of the major sponsors of professional ice hockey. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether all sponsors will actually remain on board in the medium term. Due to the effects of the coronavirus crisis, it cannot unfortunately be ruled out that sponsors may have to reduce or even end their involvement.
The Nürnberger Ice Tigers, for example, are in the position of having to find a new main sponsor. It had already been clear that the previous main sponsor, Thomas Sabo, would withdraw from the ice hockey club.

Fortunately, Nuremberg were recently able to present their new sponsor, NCP engineering GmbH. The company is based in Nuremberg and operates in the field of home office solutions. It is currently said that it will transfer around 1,3 million euros annually to the Ice Tigers until 2023. This money will enable the ice hockey club to remain competitive in the future.

The IIHF World Championship 2020 will not take place

The Ice Hockey World Championship was due to be held in Switzerland this year. However, for well-known reasons, the organisers had to cancel the World Championship. In addition, there will be no rescheduled date for the World Championship. The participating countries, ice hockey fans and the sponsors involved were all equally badly affected.

Moreover, this cancellation is another bitter blow for the companies involved, as it also deprives sponsors of the opportunity to raise their profile through television advertising.