Slaviaโฃ Prague‘s Return toโค Top-Flight Hockey Could Spark Investment, claims Former Player Jaroslav Bednรกล
Former Slaviaโ Prague forward Jaroslavโ Bednรกล believesโค the club has โthe โpotential toโค rejoin โthe Czech Extraliga – theโฃ nation’s top hockey league – and that doing โso would attract โsignificant new investment.Bednรกล, who โplayed ten โExtraliga seasons โคforโค slavia, suggests โtheโค prospect of playoff contention would be a majorโค catalyst for renewed financial backing.
Slavia โฃPragueโ hasn’t competed in โthe Extraligaโ for ten and a half years, but Bednรกล anticipates a return is inevitable and โขwould reignite โthe historically significant derbyโ matches. He acknowledges logistical hurdles, such asโ finding a suitable venue beyond sharing theโข O2 arenaโค with Sparta prague,โฃ but believes owners would be willing to take theโค risk if conditions โwere secured, necessitating a larger squad and reinforcements.
“Iโ know how โowners react. ‘Slaviaโ is โstill a huge concept,andโค if it were crazy that it would โขget into the playoffs,I believe that more money would flow in from new partners,'” Bednรกล stated. He โคalso โคnoted the club wouldโฃ need to prepare โขfor the demands of the extra league, adding, “yes, Slavia would have to have prepared where they would play the extra league. I can’t imagine that it would share the O2 arena โขwith Sparta, there are a lot of other events there besides โhockey.”
Bednรกล’s comments comeโข as Slavia recently joined other first league clubsโ in advocating for โtheโค abolition of the playoffs in favor โof directโข promotion and โrelegation – a proposal quickly dismissed by Extraliga management.Despite the โขcurrent playoff system’s โchallenges, โexemplified by the struggles of teams like Jihlava,โ Vsetรญn, andโข Zlรญn against Kladno and โขOlomouc,โ Bednรกล remains optimistic.
“I believe thatโ sooner orโ later Slavia willโข be able to return and โฃwe willโ goโ to derbiesโข again. Slavia has been down for a long time,” he concluded.