HV started a big venture a few years ago on the women's side and is about to break the points record in SDHL if you continue in the same superior style. According to Agne Bengtsson, the balance between how much money you can pump into the women's team and still be a powerful team in SHL is absolutely crucial.
- If you are in a SHL club then you know how important it is to be a SHL club. If you split evenly on all funds then you will not be a SHL club next year and then those funds are no longer available. You have to make sure you have a good SHL team to be able to bet on the ladies.
"Middle-aged men who go on men's hockey"
An elite level female player earns an average of SEK 5500 a month, according to a study by Novus, which compares to 122,000 for the men's players. Agne Bengtsson admits that the goal is for the ladies side to be able to be self-sufficient and not depend on the gentlemen. To approach that, you have to work on getting more people to come and check out the SDHL team.
On average this season, the HV71 ladies have had 142 spectators at their home games and the men's 6549, which is 46 times more. Then the ladies lead SDHL and the men are eight in SHL.
- The audience is failing in the women's hockey and there we are working to increase it. If we exaggerate a bit, it is the middle-aged men who go on men's hockey and maybe 20 percent women. We feel that it may not be the target group we should draw to the women's hockey team, but we believe in other target groups. For example, we are out in schools a lot, but things are going a bit slow. The women's hockey is young, SDHL has been around for four seasons, so I think we will need some time to get further.
- We need to get more girls who start playing hockey and we need a strong national team, which is very important for the public. A successful national team draws new groups to the sport.
Anna Borgqvist has an understanding of the audience
However, Agne believes that the women's hockey players will be able to live on their sport in the future.
- I'm convinced of that. It's just the question of when the future is. That is why we have lifted the league and invested hard on it to drive it that way.
- It has already been a boost with all the matches being broadcast on TV. Now it is important to get people to come and check out live, while I can understand that it will be difficult for people who go to the men's hockey, with over 20 games per season, to come to our games too, says player Anna Borgqvist.