President of the Continental Hockey League Alexey Morozov told that the league should have more ice palaces, the level of which matches that of the SKA Arena in St. Petersburg.
SKA played five matches of the regular season of the Fonbet KHL Championship at the SKA Arena, bringing together matches against Sochi (21481), Lada (20014), Salavat Yulaev (21155), Torpedo (21284) and Severstal “(20468) at the total more than 100,000 viewers.
— SKA’s average statistics at the SKA Arena are now 20,880 spectators per match. Can this be considered a step forward for the KHL?
— I saw this table, only Montreal has more attendance now (21094). It has never happened before that a KHL club surpassed almost all but one NHL club. This became possible due to the fact that such a palace was built in St. Petersburg. Thanks to investors – this happened not without the support of our Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gennady Nikolaevich Timchenko. We also thank the SKA management for deciding to move before the Gagarin Cup qualifiers. And not only did they move to the new palace, but they also completely prepared it. The regular season is currently breaking records.
Well, we ourselves understand what will happen in the playoffs. It’s very good when people come to the SKA Arena and feel the festive atmosphere. You yourself saw during the KHL All-Star Game how well thought out the palace was, how everything was done there for the people. I was even surprised that in ordinary stands, and not in boxes, you can walk between the rows without hitting anyone – your neighbor does not need to get up, no one is disturbed.
I would like to see more palaces like this. A year ago, a beautiful arena opened in Omsk, then in Novosibirsk, and now new palaces are being built in Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. The more we attract people to come to matches in comfortable conditions, the better. As we stated in the KHL strategy, “a game day is not just a game, but fun for the whole family.”
— Does Kazan need a palace for 20,000 spectators? Will it fill up?
– Yes, if you do. They love the Ak Bars here. Of course, there are a lot of sports in Kazan – basketball, football, volleyball. Everything is at a high level, we have our own fans. But Ak Bars is the flagship of Tatarstan, which has more than once glorified Kazan and the republic itself on the international stage. I remember how we won the Continental Cups. If you do this and there are comfortable conditions and an interesting program for visiting the matches, then people will come with pleasure, ”Morozov told .
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Source : MatchTV
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