Talks on the start of the season

On Friday, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) indirectly offered officials from the ice hockey league talks on the conditions for the new season with regard to coronavirus requirements. At a press conference in Vienna on the current pandemic situation, the minister said that they could sit down together to see what was possible and what was not. In principle, the operation of the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League appears to be seriously at risk due to the current coronavirus regulations.

For example, according to the responsible authority in Innsbruck, only just under 400 fans at home games are permitted. “Someone also has to give us the opportunity to survive economically,” said Dornbirn manager Alexander Kutzer, a representative of another club, to the Austria Presse Agentur (APA) earlier this week. The league is scheduled to start at the end of September.

Just over two months before then, Anschober offered in response to an APA enquiry to sit down together. “The offer applies to the ice hockey league just as it does to the football Bundesliga,” the government member explained. “It worked very, very well with the football Bundesliga. I am very satisfied with how it was implemented. There were a few minor outliers, but overall it worked excellently. It was a pilot project for team sport as a whole.”