There were no bad teams when the attendance was good? Many were worse than this. Pricing and market saturation are the problem, not the blowouts. They've always been part of the package.Pricing and domination by better teams when they play Belarus, Denmark, Switzerland etc. Unless there is someone on the team you really want to see live--a player highly drafted by your favourite nhl team, or a highly regarded young star you might draft--watch it on tv.