DVTK Miskovec and MAC Budapest, two top Hungarian ice hockey teams, are enter the Slovak Tip Sport league for the next season. The league should thus earn almost one million EUR. The director of the Pro-hokej company, the institution managing the top Slovak ice hockey league, Richard Lintner explains: "We came to an agreement to sell the TV rights for the Hungarian region as well as advertisement time. The money includes the fee."
The Hungarian ice hockey league managers were talking about their wish to increase the quality of play of the national team. As Sipos Levente, the general manager of the Hungarian ice hockey league, said for RTVS, he believes and hopes that their teams will stand up to the quality of Slovak teams.
The decision to enter the Slovak league was taken after the Visegrad Cup final, in which the Slovak team HK Nitra beat the DVTK Miskovec. The Visegrad group comprises of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. It was in fact the Nitra club that opposed the entrance of the Hungarian teams into the Slovak top ice hockey competition. Miroslav Kovacik, the president of the club reacts: "We adjusted to the decision of the majority. In our opinion, we should have a strong national league as is the case in the Czech Republic or in Sweden."
The independent Dennik N commented on the entrance of the foreign teams into the Slovak premier ice hockey league, saying that it is a political investment by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. On Thursday, Orban opened a water slalom route in the Tokai region where he, according to the daily, claimed that investments into sport are the best way of naturally nurturing love for one's homeland. The Dennik N also pointed out the fact that the Hungarian Prime Minister has invested money in two Slovak football teams - Dunajska Streda and Komarno.
On Thursday, the manager of the Slovak Pro-hokej company Richard Lintner also hinted at the fact that Polish teams would join the Slovak national league in the future, too. With the two Hungarian squads, the top Slovak ice hockey competition will consist of 12 teams. Thus, the number of matches will increase by one to 55 in the main part. The play off will be played by 6 teams with two more teams playing off for their position among the best 8. The 11th team will leave the Tip Sport League.
