Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
AFAIK the Finnish fans are the only ones who demanded a boycott.
Nationality of course plays a part here. Jokerit are the only Finnish team in the KHL.
Really the only other team I could imagine boycotting Dinamo Minsk are the Latvian team Dinamo Riga. That game is scheduled for 1st of October. I have no idea what discussion is like in Latvia, or if it even exists. But they're the only other democracy still involved in the KHL.
The Russian, Chinese or Kazakstan teams are of course not going to "cause problems".
There's quite a lot of people who think Jokerit should quit KHL and rejoin the Finnish league, but it seems unlikely at this point considering it's a Russian owned team. KHL is also a weird league where profits don't really matter. Jokerit have never been profitable in the KHL, and I think the same is true for most teams. The whole league runs on oligarch money, and it's as much a political "soft power" project as it is a sports league.
That is why Jokerit being in the league is such an issue, they're the one truly western team KHL managed to catch, and they're not going to let go easy.
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Do the Jokerit fans miss playing their natural Finnish rival teams? I'd have to imagine that they'd much rather see a game against a team like Frolunda than Kunlun Red Star.