The German ice hockey league (DEL) and its 14 clubs, joins the German Football League, Handball League and Basketball League in encouraging its millions of fans to support Munich’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
Following a ceremony Friday night in which Munich 2018 CEO Bernhard Schwank sealed the deal on the ice with a symbolic face-off, Schwank said, “we’ve had two very positive results with the overwhelming approval we received for our Bid Book from councillors in Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. After sending out these strong signals from the world of politics, we are now doing the same from the world of sports. With this partnership we want to get German hockey fans even more excited about the prospect of hosting an Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in their home country in 2018”.
According to Munich 2018, ice hockey has a large, passionate fan-base as demonstrated by the “hugely successful IIHF World Championships in Germany this year”. The tournament was reportedly the most watched IIHF championship in history, with an estimated cumulative television audience of more than 734.7 million, and the 77,800 spectators attending the opening game in Gelsenkirchen was a world record.
DEL Managing Director Gernot Tripcke said, “ice hockey is such a core component of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, it is natural that we at DEL should be giving Munich 2018 our wholehearted support. After the passionate, celebratory atmosphere at the IIHF World Championships in May, we are desperate to bring another world-class festival winter sports to Germany – and they don’t get any bigger than the Winter Games!”.
With three million fans attending DEL arenas every season, Munich 2018 will be promoted through ads running on giant video screens and appearing in games’ programs.