Roman Rotenberg spoke at a panel discussion at the 2025 SPIEF

Roman Rotenberg, the First Vice President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and the head coach of Russia 25, participated in the "Future of Sporting Federations: Why You Need a Private Managing Partner" discussion at the 2025 Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The panel discussion was organised by the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation.

These following figures participated in the session:

Sports Minister of the Russian Federation, President of the Russian Olympic Committee Mikhail Degtyaryov;
Governor of Perm Krai Dmitry Makhonin;
Governor of Tula Region, Chairman of the Commission of the State Council of the Russian Federation for Physical Culture and Sport Dmitry Milyaev;
President of the Russian Gymnastics Federation Oleg Belozyorov;
President of the Russian Weightlifting Federation Alexander Vinokurov;
President of the Russian Water Sports Federation Dmitry Mazepin;
Four-time Olympic champion, six-time world champion in swimming Alexander Popov;
Seven-time Olympic champion for synchronized swimming Svetlana Romashina;
First Vice President of the Russian Federation, head coach of Russia 25 Roman Rotenberg;
Chairman of the All-Russian Athletics Federation, chairman of PJSC PSB Bank Pyotr Fradkov;
President of the Russian Triathlon Federation public organisation Ksenia Shoigu.

During the session, it was noted that the goals concerning sporting results remain the same, however more is expected of federations with regard to paying close attention to the development of mass and youth sport, work with finances, the searching of sponsors, promotion in the media and international activities in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Sport and the Russian Olympic Committee.

These following topics were discussed:

How business can change the direction of sporting federations?
Will KPI be used by federations and what categories will it cover?
Which new approaches are being used with regard to the organisation and promotion of competitions?
What do athletes think about these changes?
What role do bookmaking companies play in the improvement of how effective the federations are moving in their respective directions?
How can we strengthen dialogue between federations and the media?
How can we strengthen cooperation between regions and sporting federations?

"We're striving to develop our entire ice hockey infrastructure," noted Roman Rotenberg. "Our task is to construct rinks. For example, today at the SPIEF we signed an agreement concerning the construction of the Hockey City Skolkovo complex, which will serve as a cluster of education and sport. This is a very important project, as we want our children to engage in sport without their education being affected negatively.

"Thanks to the Minister of Sport, we previously created the Red Machine National Development Program. We created additional opportunities for working with sponsors around our project. Nornickel, for example, supported our program, and we are continuing to develop this direction. When working with junior players, we want to develop them harmoniously and ensure that they compete in a wide range of sports such as athletics, swimming and weightlifting. We aren't ignoring modern technology either. We are also introducing phygital: a child plays hockey, then studies with a computer in the same sports school, and this gives us the opportunity to attract partners, companies, look for monetisation opportunities so that we can find market instruments and be attractive from the point of view of other sports."