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BUSINESS STORY: Kankaan Sauna

15.3.2024

Kankaan Sauna serves those craving for a sauna experience in the resiential district of Kangas, close to the city center of Jyväskylä. The milieu of the neighbourhood itself tells stories about the local history – the area previously housed a paper factory. In 2020, a sauna and event facilities were renovated into its over a hundred-year-old, red brick gatehouse.

”We are a block sauna located in the developing residential area of Kangas. The actual block is still missing, but fortunately it is gradually being built around us”

-Petri Pietikäinen

Block Sauna at Kangas

According to entrepreneur Petri Pietikäinen, the basic idea behind the business was to establish a public sauna in Jyväskylä, whose stoves are heated regularly on the principle of open sauna shifts. The premises on Kympinkatu indeed feature two different saunas with locker rooms and showers, a cooling-off terrace, and a four-degree plunge pool, which refreshes sauna-goers even after the most intense heat.

Kuva Kankaan saunan kahvilasta. Tiskin takana yrittäjä Petri Pietikäinen. — *Entrepreneur Petri Pietikäinen can also be spotted behind the counter.*

Kankaan Sauna also serves a café and a bar, where one can drop by even without intentions of climbing onto the sauna benches – Pietikäinen hopes that the facility would also act as a communal meeting place and a living room for city dwellers, where it would be easy to come and stay comfortably.

Encounters with or without the sauna steams

Along with the saunas, multifunctional customer spaces were also renovated for private events and other occasions. Pietikäinen considers that Kankaan Sauna acts as an enabler for various encounters: Over the years, the sauna has hosted events ranging from atmospheric family celebrations to lively Ice Hockey World Championship watch parties and Sauna Clubs, where has been live bands and other performers.

”Perhaps someday it will be possible to watch major esports tournament streams from the sauna benches”

-Petri Pietikäinen

The entrepreneur’s open attitude towards new ideas led him to the world of esports in 2023, when the concept of watch parties for digital gaming started to aspire. Also, in addition to actual esports related events, Pietikäinen brought out the idea of integrating wellness factors into the esports scene. Could relaxing on the sauna benches act as a counterbalance to fast-paced gaming performance or serve as a way to recover after intensive training sessions?

Kuva Kankaan saunalta, kuvassa pyyhkeitä ja muita saunatarvikkeita. — *A peek to the lounge area of Kankaan Sauna.*

Although Pietikäinen’s experience with competitive gaming and esports was primarily based on childhood Pac-Man tournaments, he mentions that his understanding and expertise in the field have grown since joining the CoEsports network. Pietikäinen notes that the ecosystem-like industry offers many opportunities for businesses. He openly encourages stakeholders to consider openly how electronic sports could be linked to their operations – networking with industry professionals has also been fruitful and supported the idea of developing the continuity of the watch party culture at Kankaan Sauna.

Esports takes over the sauna on March

The cooperation with the CoEsports network culminates during the Easter weekend, when a completely new event concept is being piloted at Kankaan Sauna. The Counter-Strike 2 watch party will be executed as a student project and it combines the facilities provided by the sauna entrepreneur with the skilled students from Team Academy by Jamk.

Kuvassa rinnakkain Tiimiakatemian opiskelijat Elias Valjakka, Oskari Vertala ja Miska Markki. — *Team Academy students Elias Valjakka, Oskari Vertala ja Miska Markki are currently planning the Watch Party event.*

Miska Markki, Elias Valjakka, and Oskari Vertala are studying on their first year at Jamk Team Academy. When the event conceptualization project came up from Kankaan Sauna at the beginning of the year they took on the challenge – The project team members, who are also gaming enthusiasts, have been planning the event since in collaboration with Pietikäinen. The students aim to organize a professional event that reflects their own vision, gathering viewers to enjoy the esports excitement and other activities arranged as part of the event – Naturally, the saunas will also be heated throughout the weekend.

The collaboration with the sauna entrepreneur has also gone well from the perspective of the students:

”The collaboration with Kankaan Sauna has started in a good spirit, we have exchanged a lot of ideas back and forth. The facilities for organizing the watch party are also on point, and the sauna is a fantastic addition to the event. We want to give a warm thank you to Petri, who has given us this opportunity to organize such a big thing with a local business partner.”

Although the upcoming event weekend is just a pilot, the team is already setting sights on the future. Both the project team and the entrepreneur aim to create continuity for the watch party concept and expand the range of events also to other competitive games.

Check out the website of Kankaan Sauna at www.kankaansauna.fi!