Norilsk Nickel to play hockey

The company will pay 1 billion rubles for the right to be the general partner of the Russian Hockey Federation.
Norilsk Nickel will become the general partner of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR), as well as the men's and women's national hockey teams. The representative of the Federation told about this to “Vedomosti”. The representative of the mining and metallurgical company confirmed the information on the conclusion of the sponsorship contract. His business terms partners have not disclosed. Speech about 1 billion rubles. per year, said a person close to one of the parties.

"Norilsk Nickel" will develop a training program for the Russian national team for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, said a representative of the FHR. The company will also support sports schools, training and advanced training of coaches, holding tournaments and master classes.

The mining and metallurgical company has already invested in hockey: Norilsk Nickel has been a partner of the Night Hockey League for several years, where Russian President Vladimir Putin plays as well as the League of Legends of World Hockey. Vladimir Potanin, the president and principal owner of Norilsk Nickel, is keen on hockey: he regularly plays in the first team of the veteran team CSKA.

 
Norilsk Nickel also sponsors other sports competitions and federations, among them the Russian Curling Federation, the Winter Universiade 2019 in Krasnoyarsk. In addition, the company owns CSKA basketball club and Norilsk Nickel mini-football club.

Norilsk Nickel is the second general partner of FHR; in December 2017, the pharmaceutical company R-Farm became the general partner. The representative did not disclose the cost of the contract.

Revenue FHR in 2017 fell almost twice to 1.2 billion rubles., According to SPARK. Hockey is one of the most expensive sports in terms of equipment. According to the site of the Russian Olympic team, the maintenance of one player in a season costs about $ 50,000. One stick costs $ 185, but a hockey player needs at least one season, and some more than $ 100. Chest costumes start at $ 1,000, the goalkeeper costs almost twice as much. The cost of helmets - from $ 2,000 to $ 14,000.

FHR, according to its data, has more than 10 sponsors: the title partner is the diamond mining company Alrosa, the official partner is the oil and gas company Total, the betting company League Stavok, the subsidiary Rostec Rosoboronexport, the automaker Skoda, the retailer Auchan, Henderson menswear brand, CCM outfitter, Aktipan, a manufacturer of bakers and confectioners.

The cost of the contract "Rosoboronexport" with FHR - 50 million rubles. a year, a representative of a state-owned company says: she has been sponsoring a federation for more than 10 years. In return, according to him, Rosoboronexport receives advertisements in arenas, videos, press oxen, banners, FHR website, posters, etc.

Representatives of Alrosa, Auchan, Henderson, Skoda and Total did not disclose the amount of contracts, other partners did not respond to inquiries. According to SPARK-Interfax, the amount of the contract with Alrosa in 2017 amounted to 400 million rubles, the remaining sponsors are not mentioned there. Alrosa has been cooperating with FHR since 2015, a company representative confirms: the previous contract ended at the end of June 2018, a new contract is planned to be concluded before the end of November. Now Alrosa is negotiating its amount and conditions, a company representative added.

With Total Total, a subsidiary of Total, the contract was signed in February 2017 for three years, says its representative: Total receives branding at the rink, VIP boxes, tickets to the stands, marketing rights. Auchan and FHR will continue their cooperation in 2019, confirmed Maria Kurnosova, retailer's communications director. According to her, Auchan gets branding of hockey rinks and match tickets for clients and employees of the company. Henderson has been working with FHR since 2010, the last contract was signed in September 2018 for two years, a company spokesman said. Henderson puts on FHR management, coaching staff and players at official events.