Geneva is currently succeeding in ice hockey and soccer. But the (sports) orgasm is only slow.
Geneva is currently one of the best addresses in Switzerland for sports fans. In ice hockey, Geneva-Servette plays in the final of the final and plays for the first championship title in the club’s history. In football, Servette is in the thick of the battle for places in the European Cup.
In a small town, it’s certainly easier to kindle euphoria.
However, it seems like the spark didn’t really want to jump into the audience. Only 8,000 spectators flock to the Stade de Genève on average per game, the third smallest in the Super League. Also in ice hockey, the “Les Vernets” hall was sold out late in the playoffs. In the quarter-finals against Lugano, some of the 7,135 places were still empty.
Geneva Servette have been a home powerhouse this season and have yet to lose a home game in the playoffs this year.
It is not just a sport shown
Why is it so difficult to euphoria in Geneva despite sporting success? “Geneva is a big city,” notes RTS sports journalist Bernardin Aleman. People will have a lot of entertainment here, not just sports. “In a small town it is certainly easier to kindle euphoria.”
Comparable to Zurich, people simply pick the highlights (like the cherries), says Allemann, “a typical ‘cherry-picking city'”. As a counterexample, he cites Freiburg, where the Gutron stadium is almost always sold out, regardless of sporting success.
But the euphoria is now setting in for ice hockey, home games are now running out, and there is a great atmosphere in the hall. The same can be expected on Tuesday night in Game 3 of the final against Bale. History can be made, Aleman says, “people come now.”
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