Threat Carried Out

It’s Official! 99ers Leave Graz After Dispute with City

Is Michael Schiechl waving goodbye to the city of Graz here?(Bild: GEPA)

Now they’ve actually made good on their threat: The Graz99ers are leaving their hometown of Graz in protest against announced sponsorship cuts! As was announced on Thursday, Austria’s reigning ice hockey champions will play their home game on November 21 against the Pioneers Vorarlberg not in Graz-Liebenau, but at the Kapfenberg City Hall...

Of course, at least for now, the 99ers’ move out of Graz will be limited to this one game—so the club’s protest can certainly be seen as a warning shot across the bow of city officials.

“If we’re no longer welcome, there are other ways to do things!”
“As the Graz99ers, we pay over 400,000 euros in rent per season—for games and practices for all our teams, right down to the youth divisions. But if we’re no longer welcome in Graz as a top-tier sports team, there are other options,” 99ers President Herbert Jerich had told the “Krone” as recently as mid-October. And now he’s followed through on his words...

As a reminder: The city-owned holding company Graz recently announced that it would end its sponsorship of the professional teams of SK Sturm Graz, GAK, and the 99ers starting with the 2027–28 season. “We will continue to support the ‘women’s, youth, and special needs’ programs at all three clubs in the future—at 85 percent of the current funding level.’”

“... which means there won’t be any women’s or special needs teams in the long run!”
99ers boss Jerich sees this as an inadequate consolation, as he told the “Krone”: “If you let the competitive team fall apart, then eventually there won’t be any women’s or special needs teams either.”

It’s possible that the 99ers’ game against the Pioneers Vorarlberg on November 21 in Graz wouldn’t have been able to take place anyway. That’s because on the same day, the Bundesliga match between GAK and SK Rapid will be held at the soccer stadium located next to the ice rink. A game classified as high-risk. Postponing the 99ers’ game would certainly have been possible...