A harsh revelation from the CEO of Pelicans: "Two tables were full of collection letters"

The financial situation of Pelicans has been prominently featured in the media. The Lahti club has been incurring significant losses for a long time, and even bankruptcy has been threatened in newspaper columns. Under new management, the club’s direction seems to have turned for the better in many ways.

Juuso Pulliainen started as the new CEO of Pelicans in April. He has previous experience in the hockey business as a player agent and as a consultant, helping clubs in Sweden with team building, gameplay issues, and sales and marketing.

At Pelicans, Pulliainen worked as the partnership manager before being appointed CEO, at the request of Pasi Nurminen and former sports director Janne Laukkanen. Nevertheless, the club’s financial situation came as a bit of a surprise to Pulliainen.

– I had a certain intuition about things, and you could see from the organization’s operations for quite a while that not everything was quite in order. And it still isn’t. We’re constantly fixing things, but the changes are a bit slow, Pulliainen tells in an interview with SuomiKiekko.

Above all, Pulliainen was surprised by the accepted practice of being in debt everywhere. This was addressed in the summer when the club’s owners injected capital into the company.

There have been broader issues in financial management, which are now being addressed under Pulliainen’s leadership. In previous years, rumors have suggested that, for example, in the boxes, customer service has functioned well and the catering has been in order, but if someone wanted to pay for something related to the hockey entertainment, they had to call Pelicans’ office themselves and request an invoice. Otherwise, such a thing had not been heard.

According to Pulliainen, the problems in financial management stem from the rapid growth of previous years. In just a few years, the company’s revenue grew from 7 million euros to 12 million euros. At the same time, the number of staff in the office did not grow but decreased.

– The organization has not developed alongside the growth, which is the classic problem of a growth company. Then the problems accumulate from there, Pulliainen explains.

– I can reveal that when I started, these two tables were completely full of thick stacks of collection letters. Completely full, and most of them were still unopened. That was the start of my first day in this reality.

No more collection letters are piling up on the tables. However, there is still work to be done with Pelicans’ finances.

– We have a project where we are trying to stabilize our finances during this year and improve our poor credit rating so that we would at least be a possible target for financial institutions to lend money to. Because right now we are living hand to mouth.

So, have all the skeletons been dug out of the closets now?

– Yes. I believe so. Once we get the financial statements ready, we will know where we start building from. No matter how unpleasant the situation is, it is important to know where we are starting from. Based on that, we will know what steps to take.

The audience has not found Wemasto Arena this season. Pelicans’ average attendance is the second lowest in the league, with 2,996 spectators. Photo: All Over Press

Even the towel receipts are under scrutiny

As part of Pelicans’ financial recovery, all expenses have been meticulously reviewed in the office. Purchases have not been neglected, but by examining what is bought, where it is bought from, and under what contracts, costs in the hockey operations have been trimmed by over 300,000 euros.

Going through expenses has meant long working days for Pulliainen.

– I can say that I didn’t see much of the summer. We’ve gone down to a very detailed level. You can infer something from the fact that we’ve calculated how many towels players use in the sauna, whether towels are needed or if washing towels would suffice, Pulliainen laughs.

At the same time, the corporate sales side has been performing strongly. At the beginning of the season, all ice advertisements were sold, as well as nearly all advertising space on the jerseys. Now corporate sales are at the same level as they have been in the best years, or even slightly ahead.

Last fall, the situation was different. When Pelicans had played a relegation series against Jokerit in the spring of 2025, it had completely frozen corporate sales. At that time, sales fell by 600,000 to 800,000 euros from the previous year. This has been a significant factor behind the financial difficulties.

Can a profitable Liiga club be run in Lahti?

Pulliainen estimates that if Pelicans does not make it to the playoffs, it will mean a loss. Thus, other business activities are needed around the hockey business to balance the overall result of the group.

Pelicans already has other business activities. The largest of these is the restaurant business, which includes several lunch restaurants and the harbor restaurant Tipsy Captain. However, the restaurant business has not been a path to happiness so far.

– It is challenging business, and it has not been super profitable for us in any way. We have a lot to optimize there, Pulliainen says.

The goals for the restaurants are clear. Each unit should be profitable, and the restaurants should be managed with a focus on results, not just looking at revenue.

– I am more interested in what is left at the bottom line and whether anything is left there.

In addition to the restaurants, Pelicans also has Mainoskaari. The company handles the club’s print, LED, and digital advertising. Managing these matters in-house brings significant savings, but there has not been time to focus on the business, and sales outside the club have been lower. In this area as well, Pulliainen sees room for improvement.

As examples of good financial management, Pulliainen mentions KooKoo, SaiPa, and KalPa. These clubs are roughly the same size as Pelicans, so there should also be opportunities for profitable business in Lahti.

– We need to learn to live with the money we have available and strive to maximize our resources, Pulliainen concludes.