On May 10th and 11th 2019 Academics Pilsen in cooperation with European University Hockey Association were hosting an Transnational Project Meeting which took place in Home Monitoring Arena, the home stand of HC Škoda Plzeň. The meeting was held under the support of EU Erasmus+ project, whose intention is to develop the dual career opportunities in Europe. Participants of the meeting were representatives from Slovakia, Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic. Most of the representatives are people from hockey teams who are members of European University Hockey Association.
The main aim of our Transnational Project Meeting in Pilsen was to show how to secure finances for your university ice hockey club. Academics Pilsen represent two biggest universities in West Bohemia – University of West Bohemia and Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen of Charles University in Prague. Academics exist already for 5 years so there was a lot to talk about and to share with conference participants. On the other hand the was a space to brainstorm new ideas how to improve the process of securing finances.
The Transnational Project Meeting was opened by general manager of Academics Pilsen Vilem Franek, who was at the same time conference manager. Mr. Franek presented goals of the conference and also whole agenda and activities for next two days.
Following speaker was Mgr. Petr Simon, coordinator from the Project center of University of West Bohemia. Mr. Simon was speaking about possibilities that are in grant programmes. Mr. Simon himself was behind the whole project Pilsen – The city of culture and he shared his grant knowledge with all participants. He showed us which programmes are suitable for us as university teams and how to write one
After Mr. Simon speech there was a networking lunch following. It was a good opportunity to network on informal basis, especially with Mr. Simon.
Next part in conference agenda were three presentations lead by Mr. Franek, Ing. Michal Zemko, Ph.D. and Rudolf Matějka. Mr. Franek was presenting the way how Academics Pilsen do marketing of an university club. He told participants about the basis of marketing of university teams. He mentioned, that in these times there is an absolute key role for social media. Apart from that he mentioned, that there is a second key role for big events which university team organises throughout the year. Mr. Franek told us about importance of social media, about importance of the same design, of brand manual and brand ideal. He showed us the three big events that Academics organise in the season. The first one was „The battle of Pilsen“ that is really popular in Pilsen with over 3000 fans every year. The second one was the „Teddy Bear Toss“ which Academics organise every year before Christmas. The teddy bear is a ticket to the game and fans toss the teddy bears after first goal on the ice. All teddy bears are then taken to the Faculty Hospital in Pilsen to the child department. The third big and kind of original event is an event called „From the school to the ice rink“ which is an ice hockey game organised only for students from high schools and elementary schools. The main goal of this game is to present university hockey to young students in informal place.
After Mr. Franek came Ing. Michal Zemko, Ph.D. the CEO of COMTES FHT, a.s. a company from near Pilsen. COMTES FHT is a partner of Academics since the begining which was the main reason why he spoke at this conference at all. Mr. Zemko wanted to show us what are the main reasons why a private company should support an university ice hockey team. He showed us what he appreciates when Academics do for his company. Among the main reasons why his company supports Academics he mentioned good social media content, brand visibility for his company and HR opportunities for his company.
After Mr. Zemko came Mr. Rudolf Matějka, the new CFO from the Pilsen professional ice hockey team HC Škoda Plzeň. Mr. Matějka shared with all the participants revenue results of the professional ice hockey clubs from Czech extraleague which was really interesting. He then told us about all the sources from which professional ice hockey club have money. All the participants appreciated this presentation a lot.
All three presentation were followed by round of Q&As. Participants could also ask questions during the presentations. It was an interactive part of conference. Please find the presentations here.
Then the participants had a small coffee break which we used for a networking with these 3 speakers.
The last part of the Day 1 belonged again to Mr. Franek. He told us everything about securing finances for an university ice hockey club. He told us about three pillars that his university club has. The first one were Universities and finances from them. The second one was Municipality a its grant programmes and the third one were money from private sector. Their team has those three pillars from a simple reason – when one falls, the two remains and you can continue with you university team.
After this presentation we all moved to the ICE Arena in Pilsen to the networking dinner and friendly ice hockey game between Academics Pilsen and HC Třemošná. We had a lot of new experiences from the Day 1 and we looked forward to the Day 2.
Day 2 started back in the Home Monitoring Arena with networking breakfast and continued with discussion tables. Discussion tables were focused on securing finances under different circumstances. All participants were divided into smaller groups. All groups discussed three main topics:The first one was What are the current main financing sources for the functioning of the University hockey team (private or industry sponsors, University funds, tax deductible donations….)The second one was Identify other potential future financing sources for the functioning of the University hockey team (systematic governmental support, EU support, ….). Explain how this should function.And the third one was Identify risks and limitations of accepting private, industry and governmental support.
The most valuable results of the Day 2 were the following. We found out, that all participants had more pillars of their funding and that there is no one who finance the team from its own money. Diversification of your incomes is therefore really important! When we tried to identify other potential future financing sources we all learned really interesting thing from the university team from Sweden. They are practising some kind of barter cooperation with their partners. Players of the university team are helping from time to time on the partners events and partner is then giving money to the team. In the third part we tried to identify risks and limitations of accepting money and we figured out that in these times there should be only limitations when it comes to partners from betting industry and from alcohol industry. We need to be aware about the influence we have on young people and we need to be a good role models.
The day finished with networking lunch in the Arena. This was a great end of the day. Everybody shared they thoughts from both days. Participants were talking about new ideas coming from presentations and discussions. The day opened mind to many of them.All the participants had many new ideas thanks to last two days.
At the very end of the conference we took all the participants to the centre of the city of Pilsen and we showed them where we do what we do.
It was an amazing experience and really good chance to meet new people, to share our thoughts and experiences and to help European Union to get better and we are really looking forward to another meeting.
PROGRAM:
10. 5. 2019 – Friday – Home Monitoring Aréna Plzeň + ICE Aréna
11:00 – 13:00 Arriving / accommodation to Hotel Lions
13:30 – 14:00 Registration (Home Monitoring Aréna)
14:00 – 14:20 MUDr. Vilém Franěk– Welcoming and initiation
14:20 – 14:50 Petr Šimon(West Bohemian University) – “Securing finances through your home
university and securing finances for a big cultural projects.”
14:50 – 15:30 Working Lunch
15:30 – 16:00 MUDr. Vilém Franěk– “Marketing of an university club”
16:00 – 16:30 Ing. Michal Zemko (COMTES FHT a.s.)– “Why a company should support an
university ice hockey club”
16:30 – 17:00 Rudolf Matějka (HC Škoda Plzeň)– “Securing finances in professional ice hockey
club”
17:00 – 17:30 Networking coffee break
17:30 – 18:00 MUDr. Vilém Franěk– “Securing finances of an university club”
18:00 – 18:30 Štepán Kališ (West Bohemian University)– “Differences between US university ice
hockey and its financing and Europe university ice hockey”
18:30 – 19:10 Transfer to ICE Aréna Plzeň
19:10 – 20:15 Networking Dinner (ICE Aréna Plzeň)
20:15 – 21:30 The friendly game: Academics Pilsen vs COMTES, ICE Aréna Plzeň
11. 5. 2019 – Saturday – Pilsen – Home Monitoring Arena
08:00 - 09:00 Networking breakfast (Hotel Lions)
09:00 – 11:00 Discussion tables focusing on student-athletes (Home Monitoring Aréna)
- Table 1: What are the current main financing sources for the functioning of the University hockey team (private or industry sponsors, University funds, tax deductible donations….)
- Table 2: Identify other potential future financing sources for the functioning of the University hockey team (systematic governmental support, EU support, ….). Explain how this should function.
- Table 3: Identify risks and limitations of accepting private, industry and governmental support.
11:00 – 12:00 Capturing the outcome of discussion tables focusing on student athletes (notes writing):
- Table 1: What are the current main financing sources for the functioning of the University hockey team (private or industry sponsors, University funds, tax deductible donations….)
- Table 2: Identify other potential future financing sources for the functioning of the University hockey team (systematic governmental support, EU support, ….). Explain how this should function.
- Table 3: Identify risks and limitations of accepting private, industry and governmental support
12:00 - 12:30 Wrap-ups of the discussion tables
Sharing the main messages of each table with all participants
12:30 - 13:30 Networking lunch
13:30 Farewell and departure of guests
Kniha "PLZEŇ - Libor Sváček" - vydání 1., rok 2014
Photographer: Libor Svacek;
