It may sound like a pretty negative future with a crowd-free SHL season.

But as time goes by without the virus situation noticeably changing and that Swedish football may not even show up to empty stands, unrest is growing. In addition, there is talk of a possible second wave of the corona virus in autumn and winter.

At the superior SHL series winner Luleå Hockey, the budget will now be revised a second time.

- The 10-15 million we revised the budget with last time may not be enough. A month ago, we assumed that the next season would start with an audience. Now it has been another month and we have to assume that there can be very big problems with it during the autumn. If this is the case, we must ensure that we do not end up in a situation where we risk the association's future and finances, says Enbom, who says that several partners have gone bankrupt.

Red numbers

One year ago, Luleå made an economic record profit of SEK 17 million, after SM gold on the women's side and a semi-final place on the men's side. This season, the men's team won the basic series by far and was seen as a gold favorite before the playoffs - which were canceled.

Enbom says the result is not clear yet, but that it will be "manageable" minus figures. The player budget for the next season has already been reduced by SEK 5 million, from 45 to 40 million.

The fact that two of the club's most popular players, men's goalkeeper Joel Lassinantti and women's forwards Michelle Karvinen, left the club last week made Stefan Enbom talk about the situation via social media and on the club's website.

"Drastic measures"

He says that at this time, if the next season is played in front of the audience, he is not worried. Luleå is a gold challenger:

- Absolutely, we will participate and challenge both in SHL and SDHL.

But in the worst case scenario, with an entire season facing empty stands, the club is likely to go down. After last year's record, Luleå had SEK 26.5 million in equity.

- We can't, it requires very drastic measures in the player group and in the staffing in general.

More than Luleå have started preparing for a SHL premiere in September without an audience. Värmlands Folkblad recently reported that SHL's richest club, Färjestad - with 116.5 million in equity - is doing the same.

TT: How is the talk going on among your SHL clubs, when do you need to make a decision about the season start?

- Everyone fully agrees that we should get started and that we should do it with the public and work based on it. Then we prepare both at the league level and among clubs that there can be something else. Until the end of June or the beginning of July, we may have a decision based on the situation then, but it is not certain that everything is crystal clear then.