Project developer Ion will inject additional money into the Belgian hockey competition over the next three years with the aim of making it the strongest competition in the world.
“We want to make the competition more professional and get it in the media more often, get more people into hockey and make the sport more popular,” says Kristof Vanfleteren of Ion.
She remains vague about the amount, but it will be “a significant amount, until ambition is fulfilled”.
They still have to agree with the union on how the extra money will be distributed. “One part will flow to the clubs and another part will be used to get projects done,” says Michel Schurmans.
For example, they want to broadcast all matches in the highest category with the guys. Clubs can then use the same images to train more tactically.
Red Lion Nicolas De Kerpel hopes the players themselves will also get a piece of the pie. “We also have to take a step in terms of compensation. Not only for the professional players, but also for the semi-professionals.”
Michel Schurmans tempers expectations immediately. “We won’t immediately be able to pay much more than that. In hockey, it’s also about other values and we want to keep them.”
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