To play in O2 Arena kills Slavia, says Vladimir Ruzicka

17 Nov 2010 | David Schlegel

The opening of the most modern Czech arena March 2004, at that time named Sazka Arena, was welcomed with celebrations and enthusiasm throughout the country. In addition to hosting concerts and other non-sporting events, it became the main venue of the 2004 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship and also a new home of HC Slavia Prague, which has been playing their extraleague games there since.

People were curious to see the new arena and the first extraleague hockey games of Slavia Prague in were sold out. The high spectator attendance during Slavia home games continued the following season. Slavia signed 20-year contract with the arena with a holding capacity of 17 000 attendants.

However, six years later the excitement is over. Slavia Prague has an average attendance of about 3-4 thousand spectators per game and their representatives see more disadvantages brought by playing in an arena owned by someone else than the advantages of the fact that the O2 Arena (O2 bought the name of the Arena from Sazka for 1,4 million Euros/year) is one of the most modern arenas in all of Europe.

Nowadays spectators are scarce during the Slavia home games and the club has to pay around 570 thousand Euros per season to use the facility for games. "It is killing us. We have to think about other possibilities," says a general manager and coach of Slavia Prague Vladimir Ruzicka, who won the gold medals with the Czech Republic team at the IIHF World Championship 2010 in Köln.

A new project of an arena in the area of “Eden”, located in Vrsovice has been proposed lately. "The general manager of Sazka (owner of the arena) Ales Husak does all he can, but the stadium is a monster and everything there is very expensive," says Vladimir Ruzicka. "Of course it is agreat place for the World Championship, but for us it is financially inaccessible," Ruzicka adds.

Slavia has to pay for its training center in Eden, although extraleague games are played in O2 Arena. Rumors have it that in order for Slavia to break even, at least 4 thousand fans have to attend a game. And of course, Slavia has the most expensive tickets in the whole extraleague, and their refreshments and parking are the league’s priciest.

Only derby with Sparta Prague brings more than 10 000 fans to the arena, also games with Pardubice, Plzen or Kometa Brno bring enough audience. "You will not see 17 000 people at extraleague games. You might see it in the finals, but that’s it. In the Czech Republic the ideal capacity of extraleague stadiums is around 9000," says Ruzicka.

Slavia Prague reached two extraleague finals and one semifinal in the last three seasons, but it is still financially unprofitable. "There is no chance we would bring new players to the team. We will finish this season with the players we have," says Ruzicka, not mentioning the fact that Slavia Prague holds the 11th position of the extraleague.

Despite the fact that the O2 arena has the country’s most modern jumbotron, Slavia has not used it for its home games. To run it is very expensive. The fans were very angry, but Slavia decided to save money. "I understand the fans does not like when the jumbotron is turned off but we have to save our money somehow. We cannot buy what we cannot afford," said Ruzicka. Recently, the compromise between the O2 Arena management and Slavia Prague has been made and the jumbotron works again at each game. How to get rid of the financial problems? Ruzicka thinks it is to build a new arena in Vrsovice locality. "It all depends on the will of the town hall in Prague 10. I cannot give you any comments on that," added Vladimir Ruzicka.