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Jaromír Jágr to rescue hometown ice hockey club

  14:40

Czech ice hockey ace Jaromír Jágr is to take a majority stake in native club in Kladno; Gazprom sponsorship is under negotiation

Jaromír Jágr playing for HC Kladno in the 2004–05 season during the NHL lockout foto: © ČTKČeská pozice

The best-known and most successful Czech ice hockey player, Jaromír Jágr, has reached a tentative agreement to take a majority stake in the Kladno’s financially troubled hockey club where he rose through the youth ranks and started his professional career. Prior to the announcement, there was speculation that the club would be forced to sell its license to play in the top Czech hockey league.

Plans are being finalized for Kladno Hockey Club (HC Kladno) to be transformed into a limited liability company (s.r.o.) with Jaromír Jágr as the majority owner and the town’s local council becoming a minority stakeholder.

“It’s possible to say that we agreed with certainty that hockey will stay in Kladno, which was the most important point. Now we’ve reached an agreement I hope the club will play up to the level and won’t drop to the second league,” Jágr told the news server Denik.cz following two hours of negotiations with representatives of Kladno’s municipal administration on Wednesday. ‘It’s possible to say that we agreed with certainty that hockey will stay in Kladno.’

In an interview with public broadcaster Czech Television (ČT) after Wednesday’s meeting, Kladno Mayor Dan Jiránek (Civic Democrat, ODS) said that under the contract the town will not be able to sell HC Kladno’s license to play in the Extraliga — the top ice hockey league in the Czech Republic — without Jágr’s consent. “It will also give the town more control over the funds it now puts into hockey,” Jiránek added.

Jágr’s father, Jaromír Jágr Sr, who has been the club’s president for several years, also took part in the negotiations.

There had been speculation that Kladno would be forced to sell its license to play in the Extraliga when the club’s main sponsor announced at the end of the 2010–11 season that it could no longer afford to support the club.

Mayor Jiránek said lawyers are finalizing the details of the agreement, which should be ready in a week’s time. The arrangement will have to be approved by the Town Council  leadership and an extraordinary meeting of all councilors, which Jiránek said will probably held at the beginning of June.

Gazprom speculation

Mayor Jiránek said the town would provide additional funds to help the club get started in its new commercial form and make adequate preparations for the 2011–12 season, but that gradually responsibility for securing most financing through sponsors will pass to Jágr.

Jágr’s agent, Jaroslav Zídek, told daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) on Tuesday that sponsorship of Kladno HC by the Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom is being discussed as part of negotiations to bring Jágr to SKA Saint Petersburg in the Continental Hockey League (KHL) from Avantgard Omsk, where his contract has expired after three seasons with the Siberian club.

Gazprom is the sponsor of SKA Saint Petersburg, as a result the ice hockey club is now reportedly the richest in Europe.  

Nevertheless, it is by no means a done deal that Jágr will join SKA St. Petersburg. There’s speculation that 39-year-old Jágr may even return to the NHL where he played from 1990 till 2004, winning two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and also played with the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers. His career achievements also include an Olympic gold medal and two World Championship wins.

“I only know about interest from Montreal [Canadiens],” Zídek told MfD on Tuesday, adding that he is only negotiating with Russian clubs on Jágr’s behalf.

Jágr was named forward of the tournament at the 2011 IIHF World Championships in Slovakia where the Czech Republic beat Russia 7:4 on May 15, to win the bronze medal.

“Right now I don’t know if I’ll play in Russia the NHL or in the Czech lands. The only thing I can say is that I’ll manage the club and I’ll be its agent together with Otakar Černý Jr. I hope it’ll work out for us: It will be a new experience for me but I’m prepared for it,” Jágr told journalists in Kladno on May 18.

Černý was general manager of HC Kladno until 2009. He left the club when former Kladno Mayor Milan Volf became the club’s executive director. Volf resigned on Wednesday.

Jágr said continued support from the municipality will probably be required. “We all know that hockey and sport as a whole in the Czech Republic is not profitable. It’s a black hole of sorts, and in order to run hockey in our country you need to get a lot of money. You need your fans, audience, and support from the town,” he said.

Prior to provisional agreement between the two Jágrs and the Kladno administration, a petition to urge the club’s management and the town’s administration to work together to find a financial solution to keep the team in the Extraliga was organized by the Poldi Kladno fan club.

Jaroslav Zelenka, a co-founder and organizer of the Poldi Kladno fan club, told Czech Position that if the team begins to turn in promising results, the club can expect 5,000 to 6,000 fans at home games.

Jágr gave more reason for Kladno fans to cheer on Wednesday by confirming that he intends to return to play at the club: “It may be this year, maybe next year, maybe in two years time,” Jágr said, adding that the prospect is “100 percent.”

A rich history of talent  

Founded in 1924, Kladno hockey’s era of glory came in the 1970s when the club won the Czechoslovak league five times. The club’s fortunes took a downturn in the 1990s when the town’s industries — first and foremost the famous Poldi steel producer and engineering works — fell into decline following the 1989 revolution.

Despite the club’s lack of trophies in recent decades, the club has continued to produce a prolific number of successful players. In addition to Jágr, HC Kladno natives Martin Procházka and Pavel Patera were part of the 1998 Olympic gold winning team. Talented players from HC Kladno youth hockey currently playing in the NHL include Ondřej Pavelec (goalie for the Atlanta Thrashers), Jakub Voráček (forward for Columbus Blue Jackets), Tomáš Kaberle (defenseman for the Boston Bruins), Michael Frolík (forward for the Chicago Blackhawks) and Tomáš Plekanec (forward for the Montreal Canadiens).

On Wednesday, Jágr said that youth hockey at the club will be priority. “Our main concern will be to put the club together and for youth [hockey] to function — that’s the most important thing,” he told Denik.cz.

Zelenka agreed. “While youth hockey has experienced a certain decline in recent years, the base is still broad, there’s a strong tradition and with new effective management there’s every reason to believe that the youth hockey will again prosper,” he said.

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