Finnish national sport breaks spectator records
SuperpesisFinnish baseball, known as pesäpallo or pesis, attracts wide audiences again this summer. According to the Finnish Pesäpallo Federation the men's early season matches have gathered together 42 per cent more spectators than in the previous season. The Pesäpallo Federation considers the reawakened success to be more than a coincidence.
- At the moment it seems like we have succeeded in marketing and strategy building relatively well. We have also received extra publicity on TV and other media, says Juha Tikkanen, the President of the Finnish Baseball Championships, Superpesis.
The average number of spectators in matches within the men's series of the Superpesis reached over 2000 in May. In the beginning of the decade the spectators numbers used to be approximately 1000 spectators.
The most dedicated audience can be found in the municipality of Vimpeli in Ostrobothnia. The spectator record was broken early in the season, when Vimpeli's home team played with an audience of 2921 spectators. The total number of inhabitants in Vimpeli is approximately 3500.
- The spectator numbers of May have actually surprised me. Our team has become stronger and therefore certainly more interesting both nationally and locally. If we manage to remain among the champions I'm sure the positive development in spectator numbers will continue throughout the summer, says Jukka-Pekka Kujala, the Executive Manager of Vimpeli home team, Vimpelin Veto.
Finnish baseball is a fast moving ball-sport with a basic structure identical to American Baseball. It was developed around 1910-20, basing on baseball and local games. The game has 3 out-bases and a homebase. Players use a bat to hit out to fielders and then run from base to base, trying to arrive before the ball. Finnish baseball was demonstrated to the audience of 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and it has been called the national sport of Finland.
Comments (5)