Spengler Cup in Davos as a VIP palace, TV spectacle and money machine

Ice cream master Zaugg

Whether it’s easy to forget the hustle and bustle in the streets of Davos and the spectacle on the ice: the Spengler Cup money machine is, above all, a diplomatic masterpiece that can serve as a blueprint for politicians for the EU negotiations.

The fact that the Spengler Cup still rocks in the digital age is actually a miracle. Not a sporty one, but a sport-diplomatic one.

Apart from the Federal Wrestling Festival, no other Swiss sporting event with a tradition stretching back more than a hundred years has repeatedly and successfully adapted to the requirements of the times in terms of sport, sports policy, media and commercially. In addition: Unlike the “sawdust ayatollahs”, the Spengler Cup makers have to assert themselves in the harsh winds of the international sports business.

A status like the World Cup

In the good old days, when it wasn’t even allowed to check the entire ice rink, the ice rinks had no roofs and money didn’t matter because nobody could make any real money with ice hockey, the Spengler Cup was steadfastly in the national and international sports landscape like the Jakobshorn. There was no jealousy among the clubs in the lowlands and no scheduling problems. The only thing that was unpredictable was the weather. When it snowed, sometimes we couldn’t play.

Spengler Cup: Pictures from times long past

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Spengler Cup: Pictures from times long past

1966: In front of the beautiful mountain backdrop, Davos (in the light jerseys) loses against Dukla Jihlava 1:10.

what: photopress-archiv/str

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) held a protective hand over the Spengler Cup: the event was considered an official IIHF tournament, like a world championship. This meant that championship games were not allowed to be played in any country during the Spengler Cup; the days from December 26th to 31st were considered worldwide hockey blackout dates outside of the NHL. With a championship without playoffs and only 28, later 36 rounds, there were no scheduling problems in the domestic championship.

The idea of ​​“Team Canada”

But at the end of the 1980s, the imminent end of the Spengler Cup was predicted. The German IIHF boss Doctor Günther Sabetzki publicly describes the Spengler Cup as a “wishy-washy event” and withdraws the IIHF protected status from the tournament. In this phase of all times, the HCD also finds itself in sporting and financial difficulties and is relegated to the highest amateur league. It seems clear: If the holidays are no longer blackout dates, it will no longer be possible to attract first-class foreign teams to Davos. And how will the tournament survive without a competitive HCD, the tournament’s fixed star?

But at all times smart men have taken care of the HCD. In this extremely delicate transition phase, the tournament organizers Alfred “Buzz” Gfeller and Fredi Pargätzi brought the Canadians to Davos in 1984 to enhance the spectacle. “Team Canada” is now the second fixed star of the Spengler Cup alongside the HCD, with a contract until 2025 and direct TV broadcasts to Canada. Another Swiss team temporarily replaced the HCD and Lugano was a single win short of its final triumph in 1991.

Lugano-Fans am Spengler Cup.Bild: EPA/KEYSTONE

Budgets 20 times higher than in 1985

At the end of the 1980s, with a wooden hut in the stadium parking lot, the development of a VIP culture at Christmas market level began tentatively, which developed into HCD’s most important money machine. Today there is a VIP palace in the spa park, which is used and managed jointly with the WEF.

But the more money is invested in national hockey – the clubs’ budgets are 20 times higher today than in 1985 – the more the Spengler Cup comes into trouble in its own country because of its special role and economic success. A bit like Switzerland within the EU. There are now more than 50 games played in qualifying and up to 21 playoff dramas can be added before the decision is made.

The Spengler Cup is often about sociability.Bild: keystone

International club competitions and operetta internationals take up dates. The clubs would like to use the festive period for at least three championship rounds. As is the custom in all major hockey nations – because sold-out stadiums are guaranteed during this time. And anyway: It’s not acceptable for the clubs in the lower country to have to stand idly by and watch as the HCD makes so much money with the Spengler Cup that it can put together a championship team on the transfer market. Even the sporting value is doubted.

Framework agreement with the league

At the beginning of the 21st century, the polemics surrounding the Spengler Cup break and compensation for the clubs in the lower country (similar to Switzerland’s cohesion payments to the EU) are as much a part of the tournament as the ringing of bells is a part of the Alp descent. But in 2011, under the leadership of today’s HCD chairman Gaudenz Domenig, an internationally successful business lawyer for whom difficult negotiations are as natural as blowing one’s nose, a breakthrough was achieved. An unparalleled sports diplomacy masterpiece that can serve as a blueprint for politicians in discussions with the EU and shows how it is possible to maintain independence and freedom of action in a difficult international environment.

Domenig is negotiating a framework agreement with the league. This includes, among other things, payments to the clubs, which cost the HCD a little more than half a million francs every year, but in return they provide stability, sporting and economic prosperity and the participation of a second NL team (this year Fribourg-Gottéron, 2025 probably the SCL Tigers).

Negotiates like we blow our noses: Gaudenz Domenig.Bild: keystone

The Pope doesn’t do what?!

Cleverly, league schedule general Willi Vögtlin was brought onto the tournament jury. Since then, he has continued to complain about the lack of timetables and has even demanded that games should finally be scheduled on the Tuesday of the national team’s break. But the former international referee speaks as little about championship games during the Spengler Cup break as the Pope does about the opening times of swingers clubs.

He has already worked out the game plan for next season, a particularly tricky one because of the break for the Olympic Games. The next championship starts on September 9th, 2025 and qualification lasts until March 9th, 2026.

Still on free TV

Mind games, it would be quite possible to play three rounds parallel to the Spengler Cup by scheduling the first game in Davos at 3 p.m., the championship games at 6 p.m. and the second game in Davos at 9 p.m., Vögtlin vehemently condemns as heresy. This is the fine art of HCD hockey diplomacy and even Prince Metternich, one of the greatest diplomats in history, would have nodded appreciatively: Willi Vögtlin, paid by the league (!), has become an ardent Spengler Cup supporter.

While the league now only appears on pay TV and occasionally on free-to-air channels, the people of Davos continue to rely wisely on state-run television. The contract with Leutschenbach, which guarantees the live broadcasts – the oxygen of the Spengler Cup marketing business – has been extended until 2031. The agreement with the league, which has already been renewed once, is valid until 2027. As someone who was there remembers, the negotiations “didn’t even last 10 seconds, that’s how quickly we agreed.” The next extension will not take much more time.

The fact that the Spengler Cup has been around for decades is one of the secrets of its success.Bild: keystone

Today, HC Davos has a turnover of around 11 million francs with the Spengler Cup. That’s around a third of the annual turnover and the clubs in the lower country are no longer complaining. The priceless value of the tournament for our ice hockey – and for the advertising industry – is undisputed: even the financial institution UBS has extended it until 2025 in truly exciting times.

In the meantime, HCD no longer even needs the expensive services of a marketing agency from the lowlands on the advertising market. The people of Davos have everything in their own hands again and, under managing director Marc Gianola, are asserting themselves in the national and international hockey business like the Gallic village in the Roman Empire once managed by Asterix.