Eisbären Berlin CEO and General Manager Peter Lee is also a supervisory board member of the Champions Hockey League. Therefore he wants to see his club have success in the new competition, but he's also very interested in the overall growth of the league.

by Oliver Koch

Mr. Lee, the first Champions Hockey League season is starting very soon. First of all, in your role as CEO and General Manager of Eisbären Berlin, are you on schedule?

We have a lot of work on the ice and off the ice as well. We have many different things to organise. On the ice everything is fine. We have had some pre-season games to prepare us for the upcoming CHL.

In your role as a supervisory board member of the CHL, how is the organisation coming along, since it is such a huge project?

Yes, it is indeed a very big project that has taken a lot of time, but we are on the right path. Right now we are just at the beginning and still have some problems that we need to overcome, but I am sure that we will be able to make everything work. The games are being broadcast live in seven different countries, which is really important for us. Our marketers have done an excellent job.

Looking at it from a competitive standpoint, many adjustments have been made. The number of teams was increased from 40 to 44, which goes hand-in-hand with giving out more wildcards to teams that could not qualify.

Basically, the main point is for the CHL is to make ice hockey more popular in and around Europe. We have to try to play everywhere. We have to get people to notice us and thereby increase their demand for the sport. Before handing out a wildcard, we asked ourselves, "Which teams could be interesting to watch?" We still don't know what will happen with the KHL in connection with the CHL. We tried to talk to the KHL but we haven't found a consensus yet. This is the reason for us trying to be more flexible concerning the participating teams. If we are able to make an agreement with the KHL, we have to decide which clubs are going to play in the CHL. Currently, I think we already have a great mixture for an exciting hockey competiton.

How hard is it to adjust the CHL schedule to the different national league schedules?

First of all, it is important to get all the leagues and the ice hockey world association, the IIHF, at one table to talk. Furthermore we have to pay attention to the breaks for games of the different national teams. So the hockey season is starting two weeks earlier than usual with the Champions Hockey League. It is equally important, though, that the CHL playoffs are played during the regular season of the national leagues.

Considering all of that, do you think you'll stay with a similar schedule in the future? Or could there be one that's a bit simpler to organise, which could mean fewer games per team?

Every year there will be some development. We have to ask, what fits and works well? First off, we decided to have a group stage with 11 groups of four teams and the group winners and the five best teams coming second are heading to the playoffs. That is our system for now, but it doesn't have to stay the same forever. It's important for us to check whether everything has been well-organised.

If you compare it to football, in which the stadium is often solely used for football, we have a lot more to organise because our arenas are often multi-funtional. That is why we have to verify that the arenas are reserved for hockey and we have to organise much more. Therefore we will have to see how it works out this year and go on from there.