Finland loves hockey

[Puck Dogg]

In Finland it's all about success or bust. In other words, our hockey national team is successful = big crowd.

When we are playing in basketball or volleyball euros/worlds = Big amount of fans travel to wherever those game are and are very loud, in euro level often the biggest amount of away fans.

I recall when Finland did well in curling it was somewhat a thing.

Its fair to say that whenever Finnish athlete or national team does well in whatever sport it gains popularity and attracts bandwagon fans. That doesn't translate into popularity of the local leagues though. The few and dedicated have an favorite local basketball or volleyball team. To some extent that can be said also about football / soccer.

Regarding the popularity of hockey, there's large number of people that watch only national team's games and don't follow Liiga (or let alone NHL or any other league) at all.

 

[FinPanda]

I recall when Finland did well in curling it was somewhat a thing.

Its fair to say that whenever Finnish athlete or national team does well in whatever sport it gains popularity and attracts bandwagon fans. That doesn't translate into popularity of the local leagues though. The few and dedicated have an favorite local basketball or volleyball team. To some extent that can be said also about football / soccer.

Regarding the popularity of hockey, there's large number of people that watch only national team's games and don't follow Liiga (or let alone NHL or any other league) at all.

NHL is really only for real hockey fans. KHL didn't interest even Jokerit own fans. Liiga is more popular than NHL for a lot of people. But like you saif, an average Finn watches Team Finland play at the WHC and probably has a few beers with friends. WHC is when we get together to watch games if Finland is playing in the final. If we don't play in the final, the fans are along as long as Finland is. Hockey ends when Finland loses

I remember how in 2019 my ig was full of hockey related pictures and clips. Its a massive thing for Finns.

 

[Husqvarna]

Which young players do Finland have that is better than Elanga, Isak and Kulusevski?

Finland ones ...

 

[paragon]

Liiga would have better attedances and atmosphere with these changes:

1. Lowerin ticket prices a bit.
2. Opening series like in Sweden
3. Allowing consumation of alcohol everywhere in stands (this is for atmosphere). Finns are quite reserved and most finns find it silly to go absolutely nuts, unless you have few drinks, then its not so reserved atmosphere any more.

I think many other countries allow alcohol, Finland currently only in some part of the stands. Unsurprisingly, there is the best atmosphere. Being hard core fan fan isn't supposed to be a civilized suitman thing to do in first place. It doesnt mean being absolutely wasted, but few beers might affect the atmosphere positively.

Also I dont know if the TV / streaming is done as well in Sweden, but in Finland all games are available and well broadcasted in reasonable monthly price, and the ticks prices are highish and everything is bit expensive in the arena, especially beer. This has to have affect on the attadance numbers.

I actually think that in order to create a fan culture, you would only need more liberal alcohol policy and cheaper pricing. If they sold beer for 2-3€ at the stadiums, they would be packed sooner or later. Fan culture traditionally has its roots in the working class culture. Working class people in Finland are simply too poor to watch low quality football matches, same goes for students. You might convince them to go to the games if they didn't have to do it with dry mouths.

I think it's too difficult to build a fan culture with the way things are. If you managed to jump start things with alcohol, eventually the atmosphere could be enough to lure people to stadiums.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Finland ones ...

Who?

If you mean bs like they are not swedish just because they have foreign roots then i can tell you all 3 are born and raised in Sweden and speaks fluent swedish. If they are not swedish, then Glen Kamara is not finn with the same logic.

 

[tuozzi]

On the other hand, club fans in Finland is a bloody joke. Finland dont have any fans in the level of AIK, Hammarby, Djurgården, IFK Göteborg and Malmö FF. Finland national fans are not impressing compared to those swedish clubs fanculture.

The only one who thinks Finland is better than Sweden at soccer is finns themself. Sweden is miles ahead of Finland in soccer. Just compare resualts and rosters. Zlatan is not a key player anymore for the NT btw. Elanga (man united), Isak and Kulusevski (spurs) is making sure we have good offensive players.

It's true that Finns generally speaking are not that much into sports, despite telling themselves otherwise. Attendance and general atmosphere is low in pretty much every sport.

You'll have a hard time finding a Finn that thinks Finland is better than Sweden at soccer, so I don't know what you're talking about.

Edit. I realised you're probably arguing with such a Finn, and I just can't see it because I've blocked him. Good luck with that!

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Not really. The Finnish league gets pretty bad attendance. For example Swedish league gets much better attendance. Swedes seem to actually love hockey more. Finnish people just like to watch international games every now and then.

Three of Finland’s four biggest cities have 1 Liiga team between them. Jokerit leaving to KHL and Blues going bankrupt was very bad for Liiga.
Jokerit was the most hated and most followed team, so then leaving drove everyone’s attendance down. Ignoring the final years, Blues used to be the 6th/7th team in terms of attendance (middle of the pack) and since then the location of the arena has improved (metro, more population close to the arena) - so you could argue that once promoted Kiekko Espoo would exceed the same within a few years.