BERN, Switzerland – SC Bern announced that the club had a operational profit of 1.4m Swiss Francs (€860,000) from the 2007-2008 season despite the surprising quarterfinal loss to Fribourg-Gottéron. The turnover was CHF 15.5m (€9.6m).

After depreciation (negative balance in transfers amongst others) the net profit was a symbolic Franc, even though general manager Marc Luthi announced that there won’t be much to depreciate in the future.

Currently, 250 building workers are hammering away basically around the clock to ensure that the reconstructed PostFinance Arena will be ready for the Swiss season opener and the Victoria Cup event. SC Bern will have its season-opener in the 17,000-capacity arena against promoted EHC Biel/Bienne on September 5. It’s expected that head coach John van Boxmeer will be ready for the opener after his heart attack two weeks ago and also for the Champions Hockey League qualifying tournament September 12-14 in Nuremberg, Germany.

The Victoria Cup event will include SC Bern vs. the NHL’s New York Rangers on September 30 (exhibition game) and European club champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk against the Rangers playing for the Victoria Cup on October 1. More finishing touches will be done to the arena before the 2009 IIHF World Championship starts in April.

SC Bern has reached their season ticket cap of 13,000. Last year, they averaged 15,939 spectators in the regular season.