Jokerit loses major sponsor for its refusal to withdraw from the KHL

With full scale war now breaking out between Russia and Ukraine, pressure is mounting in several aspects of society for corporations, individuals and even sports teams to have no dealings with Russia, which is seen as the aggressor in the conflict. Now, Jokerit Helsinkki of Finland has lost a major sponsor over it.

You may recall earlier this week that the official Jokerit fan association called on the team to withdraw from the Russian-based KHL. At the time, the Finnish team said it could not due to commitments made to the league and to employees. Now, that's coming back to bite the owners.

"We do not want to be involved in supporting the activities of the Jokers, who play in the Russian KHL League. This is our statement on the current situation in Ukraine and Russia's military operations there," said Lassi Määttä CEO of Barona.

Barona is a major sponsor of the team. It has withdrawn all of its support in that aspect. On top of that, Barona is an employment agency that provides Jokerit with employees for its team and home arena. Those services have been stopped as well.

Jokerit has two primary owners, former NHLer Jari Kurri, who owns 60 percent of the team, and Norilsk Nickel, a Russian-based mining and smelting company that owns 40 precent.

There are four other teams playing in the KHL that are not based in Russia. There have already been calls from the Latvian government for Dinamo Riga to withdraw from the league. The other three are Kunlun Red Star (China), Barys Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), and Dinamo Minsk (Belarus).

Source: Iltalehti.fi

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