He is Swiss

The Caps have a new president

The new president of the Vienna Capitals, Martin Reiss

(Bild: APA)

The Vienna Capitals are repositioning themselves under Swiss leadership. Following the retirement of long-term president Hans Schmid (84), Swiss sports manager Martin Reiss is taking over as president. The 68-year-old, who will be officially appointed at a general meeting at the end of June, wants to make a difference for the Caps and was fiercely critical of the state of club ice hockey in Austria at his debut.

"I want people to say in five years' time: Wow, they've got something going," explained Reiss on Thursday, highlighting the achievements of his predecessor, who made top ice hockey in Vienna possible in the first place. "What Hans has done is unique, it's difficult to top that, which is why I'm coming up with new ideas," he said.

Sports manager for 40 years
Reiss has been working internationally in sports management for 40 years; Allsport Promotion, of which he is managing director, now has its main office in Vienna. Born in the Czech Republic, he has worked extensively in Formula 1 and managed the soccer clubs Slavia Prague and Queens Park Rangers. He has experience in ice hockey as the marketer of the Czech ice hockey team and now wants to bring his wealth of experience to Austria.

He can't think of anything good to say about the status quo in Austrian ice hockey. You have to get the league "to become more active. I've never seen a country that has such a great product and they do nothing. The marketing is non-existent. When I look at the figures, I have to assume that someone can't do that. It can't be right that clubs earn less from league marketing than Swiss third division clubs." Reiss is convinced that "more money can be generated", so he wants to make an appointment with the league soon to sound out "where we might be able to help them".

Kalla new "vice"
Reiss will head a six-member board. Franz Kalla, general manager for 16 years, will remain with the club as vice-president, with building contractor Philipp Felsinger as his second deputy and ÖBB manager Stefan Braun taking on the newly introduced position of board spokesman. Lukas Garhofer and Patrick Wondra are responsible for management, while Christian Dolezal is the sporting director. As head coach, Gerry Fleming is to lead the Caps back into the play-offs, which the Viennese team missed out on this year for the first time in 20 years.