EV Zug home Oym Hall major expansion plans

Article posted by Coliseum, May 23^rd, 2025

Image: EV Zug

The home ground of the professional ice hockey team EV Zug (Zug, Switzerland) home facility – the Bossard Arena – will now be known as the Oym Hall. The naming rights have been landed by Hans-Peter Strebel, the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

‘EVZ’ stated that the present naming rights with the naming partner Bossard AG expires in the Summer of 2025 and the EVZ was hunting for a new naming rights partner. The head honcho of EV Zug Patrick Lengwiler informed at a presser held recently that the ice hockey club thereby launched a bidding process and talks were held with the previous naming rights organization Bossard Holding. But Bossard decided not to take part in the naming rights exercise any more although it will remain the main sponsor of the EVZ.

Hans-Peter Strebel has now acquired the naming rights as a private individual for the next 15 years. In addition to the price for the naming rights he is also providing a grant of CHF 10 million for the stadium expansion. Hans-Peter Strebel is President of EV Zug and is also its majority shareholder and has been associated with the club since his youth. He opened the OYM high-performance sports center in Cham (Switzerland) in 2020 which he financed on his own. He wanted to further expand the center’s appeal and hence the Oym Hall name for the EVZ arena.

The EV Zug (commonly known as EVZ) is a professional men’s ice hockey team from Zug, Switzerland. It is a member of the National League – the highest level of the Swiss ice hockey league system – and plays its home games at the Oym Hall.

The Bossard Arena (soon to be known as the Oym Hall) is an indoor sporting arena located in Zug, Switzerland. The capacity of the arena stands at 7,800 and opened in 2010. It hosts indoor sporting events such as ice hockey. It serves as the home ground of the EV Zug.

The Bossard Group, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, is among the global market leaders in fastening technology. With more than one million fastening elements in its product portfolio as well as its related technical consulting and logistics services they enable their customers to increase their productivity and manufacturing efficiency sustainably.

‘EVZ’ further stated that the expansion of the Oym Hall will begin in mid-June 2025. The current focus is on the South Extension, where, among other things, the new Sportsbar 67 and a fan shop will come up on the ground floor as well as an additional restaurant and an outdoor terrace on the first floor.

The total price tag of the above development is expected to be CHF 60 million. Soon after receiving the construction permit at the end of January 2025 the EVZ finalized the construction plans and began the initial preparatory work for the expansion in the beginning of May 2025. The focus in the first year of construction will be on the Southern part where a single-story extension will be built which, among other things, will provide more smooth access to the fans to the arena. The ground floor will also house the new Sportsbar 67, the fan shop and the skate point for outdoor skating.

A terrace will be built with the roof to be extended where the guests can gather during matchdays/events. On the first floor a new restaurant meant for matchdays will replace the current 67 Sixtyseven Sportsbar. Parallel to the construction work in the South part of the arena initial work has started inside of the venue too. In particular, the roof structure will be reinforced to prepare for the planned raising of the rear roof area in Summer 2026.

The expansion work has been so planned so that matches can be played without any disturbances in the EVZ schedule in the 2025-2026 seasons. Initial work on the Northern part will begin in November but redoing the venue structure cannot start until the roof area has been raised. As the roof raising work is a complex exercise which will begin in Summer 2026 the first home games of the EV Zug cannot begin until mid-October. All construction work will be over by late Autumn 2027 facilitating the opening of the expanded stadium coinciding with EVZ’s 60^th anniversary year (the club was founded in the year 1967).

The other areas of the stadium will be upgraded and tech bells and whistles will be added.

The EVZ also made significant progress in financing the stadium expansion work. The Cantonal Council (the legislative body of a canton in Switzerland) approved the granting of a repayable loan to EVZ for CHF 35 million at 1.5 percent interest. The EVZ will be able to cover most of the remaining amount from its current account, a sale of its own shares and the selling of the stadium’s naming rights. Subject to the Cantonal support becoming legally binding the financing of the entire investment is thus largely secured.

Put in Patrick Lengwiler, “We are extremely pleased about the sustainable financing solution that will make the much required expansion of the stadium possible. I particularly consider the loan from the Canton of Zug as a huge confidence they have on our organization. We are happy to now begin construction work and look forward to soon being able to offer our fans an exhilarating experience.”

Commented Hans-Peter Strebel, “By acquiring the naming rights including the waiving repayment of the loan I want to lay the foundation for the long-term financial success of EVZ. The increased investment costs for the expansion would have placed an additional burden on the annual accounts. Therefore, I decided to acquire the naming rights as a private individual. It is a one-time investment on my part for a unique expansion project which will bring me great joy. However, since I did not want the stadium to bear my name I decided to name it OYM.”

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