Ice hockey: DEL and DEL2 come back in promotion and relegation – Hockey News – DEL

After more than a decade, there will be another uprising and comes under the highest German ice hockey league. The gear with the LED2 was controversial.

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Milan Sako

Fans and some officials have been calling for years, now it's the German Ice Hockey League (LED): starting from the 2020/21 season, there will be a va -and-back between LED and LED2. Both leagues announced after a shareholders decision on Friday. For the last time, there were ups and downs between the two leagues in the 2005/06 season. It is expected that the last of the points DEL after 52 games directly in the driveway without the usual stops. The champion DEL2, still in play-off, is entitled to a promotion from 2020.

However, the newcomer must raise 800 000 euros for the LED license and also meet the high standards of stadium infrastructure , such as video dice, VIP space and seats. LED hopes by reintroducing the relegation round in two years to more tension not only in the fight for the playoffs, but also at the bottom of the table. "We are delighted that after this long period, there is still an overlap between the two leagues," says Jürgen Arnold, chairman of the LED Supervisory Board. "We hope for an important boost for our sport."

Lothar Sigl: Must be an incentive for good performance

The Augsburg Panthers are among the founding members of the LED, which emerged 25 years ago from the Bundesliga. As a small place, the team struggles year after year, sporting and financially rather for survival than for the German league. "We are aware that we are a half-league club that could be affected, which is all the more important for us to perform well," says Lothar Sigl. "The main shareholder of Panther will probably be not satisfied with the decision Sigl was still skeptical about reintroducing the ascent and descent. "We stick to the facts. There was an agreement with DEL2 for three years. LED has come reintroducing promotion and relegation and we are part of the league. As a result, we accept the new regulation, "says Sigl, who is a member of the LED Supervisory Board.

Potential candidates for promotion are the second division sites Bietigheim, Kbadel, Frankfurt and Dresden. Although ESV Kaufbeuren scored two times in a row in the semifinal of DEL2. But the athletic conditions are only half the battle for the LED entry. Although Buron Joker moved into a new stadium less than a year ago, it does not meet high LED standards. "A LED participation is already failing us with the viewer's capacity – it's about 3,000 visitors – but we will have to provide space for at least 4,500 spectators," says Michael Kreitl, managing director. 19659006] The former striker, who won second place with Augsburg in 2010, welcomes the decision: "It's good for German sports culture. Every ice hockey fan wants to climb and descend again. In principle, it is also possible for us, but for the moment we do not think about it. "An LED budget with at least five million euros could not lift the Allgäu. In the long run, however, relegated LED players would increase the attractiveness of the second league.

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