The corona crisis affects everyone and then it does not matter if you are the big dominant in the Swedish women's basketball team, with six gold medals in the last seven years. When the season was canceled just over a month ago, it meant for Luleå Basket a number of packed arenas that went about nothing and an immediate loss of revenue of a couple of SEK million.

The finals are the clubs' economic harvest season and should have been going on for now, but instead Swedish basketball is trying to find a way to lead when the crisis is over.

"It is a great uncertainty and concern for the future," says Christer Sehlin.

Went to the brink

The club director's Luleå Basket has for many years been Sweden's leading public team on the women's side, all sports included. Only another Norrbotten team, Piteås football ladies, has been able to compete with Luleå in the end.

- We have worked hard to go to the brink, not only for women's basketball but for women's sports in general. Taken step by year, so that our girls can work with this as a full-time job. I am worried that we will be thrown back 15 years in the conditions for women's sports, it would be incredibly unfortunate, says Sehlin.

Earlier this week, the Swedish Basketball Association showed its clear dissatisfaction when it became clear that the Sports Federation's (RF) support money for the sport was delayed until midsummer. Many clubs, not least on the men's side, run the risk of liquidity problems earlier than that.

But even if you look past RF's support package, there are big questions for the future. In Swedish basketball, you are already looking at how it is possible for the next season to lose the club's costs that are not directly linked to the player groups.

Can change competition rules

Discussions about changing the rules of the competition are ongoing, with the aim of turning over every penny. For example, can a away team travel with fewer than the ten players currently required by the rules? Is it possible to cut some of the costs associated with judges and officials? Maybe a team, like in the ice hockey SDHL, can play multiple away games during the same trip in order to reduce spending?

Basketball Association chairman Mats Carlson does not want to go into details, but notes:

- Nothing is ruled out in these times. It may be that the next season will be a bit of a mid-season, where we have to give up some things.

In practice, it is already clear that the Swedish Cup, which was launched before the past season, is put on ice. The competition is hardly a profit deal for the clubs.

- There is a lot of evidence that we will not play the Swedish Cup, but in that case a formal decision will come next week, says Carlson.