Has your stance on the World Cup changed for the better?

[Gary Nylund]

Actually, yes, that's a pretty big part of it. And I think that's what the NHL tried capturing with this tournament because "OMG, it's the World Cup".

Besides the primary reason of generating HRR, they probably wanted to present the game on a global scale to generate new fans by tuning in to a sport they either never cared for before or watched. If that wasn't the case, then just showcase the league's best stars in the All-Star Game and be done with it.

Hmm, OK thanks for your response. I've never cared at all if people watch who don't even care about hockey but some others seem to care so great I guess.

I think they called it the World Cup for the sake of continuity because that's what it was called before. My guess is that next time, they'll go back to the old format and over time, they may even be able to establish some continuity, we'll see I guess.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Hmm, OK thanks for your response. I've never cared at all if people watch who don't even care about hockey but some others seem to care so great I guess.

I think they called it the World Cup for the sake of continuity because that's what it was called before. My guess is that next time, they'll go back to the old format and over time, they may even be able to establish some continuity, we'll see I guess.

Quite frankly, you nor I nor others don't or may not care. I just don't think the league takes a similar stance. Otherwise, again, I think there were other ways to appealing to the niche market than a World Cup.

You're right about the name. Besides the two made up teams, if the league follows through and does this every four years (without the two made up teams), the brand/tradition will grow. If we view this as the inaugural World Cup, it takes time to do so.

I do wonder though after seeing those tweets about the attendance both inside and outside of the arena last night. Would this tournament even be successful in another city?

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

After watching some of the games I've done a complete 180.

Initially I viewed the World Cup reincarnation as a money-grab All-Star esque tournament but that's not the case anymore as games with Europe and NA U23 have been fantastic.

Team USA's roster decisions is a downer but that's it.



Also, does anyone know what kind of monetary incentives the players are getting for cutting their summer break?

Unfortunately no for me. I was beyond excited for this tournament and bought tickets for every game to travel to Toronto and watch it. I fought on here against the haters with the "gimmick" comments to no end.

Now after seeing it live, seeing how Toronto, which I thought was hockey heaven, could not care less about the tournament, my view changed.

I do think it is a cash grab for the NHL and I think they failed because there is no way ESPN had good ratings in the states. A number of different factors were at play such as NA and USA not making the playoffs, but I felt overall the energy and excitement from fans and players for this was nothing compared to the NHL playoffs or Olympics.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Quite frankly, you nor I nor others don't or may not care. I just don't think the league takes a similar stance. Otherwise, again, I think there were other ways to appealing to the niche market than a World Cup.

You're right about the name. Besides the two made up teams, if the league follows through and does this every four years (without the two made up teams), the brand/tradition will grow. If we view this as the inaugural World Cup, it takes time to do so.

I do wonder though after seeing those tweets about the attendance both inside and outside of the arena last night. Would this tournament even be successful in another city?

It's hard to imagine selling as many tickets anywhere else. Babcock said the other day that next time, he would like to see national teams only and have two cities hosting and that seems like a good idea to me as long as one of the cities is Toronto. I don't see why there couldn't be even more cities, OTT and MTL and maybe Hamilton as well?

 

[Frank Drebin]

I wonder if it would be successful ticket wise in non NHL cities, like Hamilton or Saskatoon? Seems like everyone in Toronto is more worried about the Jays.

 

[BayStreetBully]

Quite frankly, you nor I nor others don't or may not care. I just don't think the league takes a similar stance. Otherwise, again, I think there were other ways to appealing to the niche market than a World Cup.

You're right about the name. Besides the two made up teams, if the league follows through and does this every four years (without the two made up teams), the brand/tradition will grow. If we view this as the inaugural World Cup, it takes time to do so.

I do wonder though after seeing those tweets about the attendance both inside and outside of the arena last night. Would this tournament even be successful in another city?

I've said this before- if there was a Canada Cup/World Cup every 4 years beginning from 1976 onwards, we would've established a real tradition behind the tournament by now. 40 years of continuous tradition is arguably enough to overcome lackluster hockey, a lack of political rivalries, lack of mystery behind the Iron Curtain, lack of international superstars and lack of parity. The hockey would be meaningful because the tournament would have been meaningful. I'm assuming it would be close to what Olympic hockey means today.

But the NHL didn't follow a continuum of playing every 4 years. They sometimes did it every 3 years, sometimes 4 years, sometimes 5 years, then they skipped 2000 and again in 2008 and 2012. It's too late to become meaningful now. That ship has sailed because the Olympics filled that void while the NHL slept. It's possible the World Cup could be meaningful in another 40 years if they did it every 4 years, but I don't see it taking any quicker to establish a tradition.

And if they can't fill seats in Toronto, they can't fill it anywhere. I just don't see a solution for 2020, other than to host it in 2 cities, expect a bad turnout, and just do it for the sake of continuing to build a brand over a long term period of 40 years. Is the NHL willing to do that? I dunno about that.

 

[MonyontheMoney]

I felt more obligated to watch the Pentocton rookie tournament, and now I feel more obligated to watch NHL preseason games. Not sure why I feel this way, but aside from pretournament games prior to the rookie tournament and some NA games, I haven't paid much attention at all.

I would have been much happier if the Flames/Jets preseason game was televised last night over the Canada/Europe one.

 

[BayStreetBully]

Unfortunately no for me. I was beyond excited for this tournament and bought tickets for every game to travel to Toronto and watch it. I fought on here against the haters with the "gimmick" comments to no end.

Now after seeing it live, seeing how Toronto, which I thought was hockey heaven, could not care less about the tournament, my view changed.

I do think it is a cash grab for the NHL and I think they failed because there is no way ESPN had good ratings in the states. A number of different factors were at play such as NA and USA not making the playoffs, but I felt overall the energy and excitement from fans and players for this was nothing compared to the NHL playoffs or Olympics.

I went to a couple games for dirt cheap ($10 for tickets listed at $100), and I felt sorry for the Finns and Swedes. I wish they could've had a more memorable hockey experience after flying half way across the world in what they see as hockey heaven in Toronto, as you describe. They were polite about it and said they were having a great time, but the dud of the World Cup experience here was as clear as day.

 

[Preisst*]

I've said this before- if there was a Canada Cup/World Cup every 4 years beginning from 1976 onwards, we would've established a real tradition behind the tournament by now. 40 years of continuous tradition is arguably enough to overcome lackluster hockey, a lack of political rivalries, lack of mystery behind the Iron Curtain, lack of international superstars and lack of parity. The hockey would be meaningful because the tournament would have been meaningful. I'm assuming it would be close to what Olympic hockey means today.

But the NHL didn't follow a continuum of playing every 4 years. They sometimes did it every 3 years, sometimes 4 years, sometimes 5 years, then they skipped 2000 and again in 2008 and 2012. It's too late to become meaningful now. That ship has sailed because the Olympics filled that void while the NHL slept. It's possible the World Cup could be meaningful in another 40 years if they did it every 4 years, but I don't see it taking any quicker to establish a tradition.

And if they can't fill seats in Toronto, they can't fill it anywhere. I just don't see a solution for 2020, other than to host it in 2 cities, expect a bad turnout, and just do it for the sake of continuing to build a brand over a long term period of 40 years. Is the NHL willing to do that? I dunno about that.

I think it can be salvaged but they need to have the format a true best country versus best country format. For all the bleating we see from many on this forum the fact is this place is an extremely small percentage of hockey fans. Heck over 85% of the posters here can't even skate.

 

[Preisst*]

I went to a couple games for dirt cheap ($10 for tickets listed at $100), and I felt sorry for the Finns and Swedes. I wish they could've had a more memorable hockey experience after flying half way across the world in what they see as hockey heaven in Toronto, as you describe. They were polite about it and said they were having a great time, but the dud of the World Cup experience here was as clear as day.

Serious question, were those tickets bought via regular venue or from scalpers or some other such source?

The reason I ask is cuz I'd like to know if the NHL/NHLPA were able to get the $100 they were asking for from someone else who then sold the tickets or if they outright overcharged.

 

[Jussi]

I never held it on the esteem of the Olympics. The original World Cup in 96 was great and the Canada Cups before that, but that was because there was no Olympic participation so it was the only time to see the true best on best.

This hasn't come close to the Olympics in that regard. As for the World Championships I think everyone would be far more on board with that if it wasn't at a time during the NHL playoffs that the majority of the best players for each country are in the playoffs (minus Ovechkin). It's just not a true best on best tournament. And neither will this one be if they don't include more countries, having gimmick teams in over nations that are trying their best to get ahead like Switzerland it's a bit of a slap in the face to them I would think. Maybe they won't win the whole thing but they still get the opportunity to show what they can do against all the best teams and climb the ladder.

These days the Worlds start so late that there's basically only 4 teams playing at the NHL playoffs. Most of the best players are in theory available but won't play at he Worlds for various, often understandable reasons.

 

[Pokecheque]

Yeah, I thought the gimmick teams were a joke, but I was wrong (only joke team in the tournament was USA). The quality of hockey has been great and apart from some problems I have with the format I really have enjoyed this tournament. And one big, big advantage it has over the Olympics is that it doesn't interrupt the season.

 

[BayStreetBully]

Serious question, were those tickets bought via regular venue or from scalpers or some other such source?

The reason I ask is cuz I'd like to know if the NHL/NHLPA were able to get the $100 they were asking for from someone else who then sold the tickets or if they outright overcharged.

I bought them online off the secondary market. Someone did pay $100 for those tickets so the NHL got full value of $100. I'm guessing the original buyers were initially trying to make a profit off of these tickets, but no one was buying. So the prices kept going down.

The reason I brought this up is to show that there just wasn't any interest from the people in the city. But yes I believe the NHL got their money either way.

 

[Xokkeu]

Serious question, were those tickets bought via regular venue or from scalpers or some other such source?

The reason I ask is cuz I'd like to know if the NHL/NHLPA were able to get the $100 they were asking for from someone else who then sold the tickets or if they outright overcharged.

Someone bought those tickets from the NHL/ticketmaster and then didn't want to go for whatever reason and then sold them on stubhub. So the guy/girl paid the NHL/ticketmaster $100 and then got back $10 from whoever bought them on stubhub.

 

[Preisst*]

I bought them online off the secondary market. Someone did pay $100 for those tickets so the NHL got full value of $100. I'm guessing the original buyers were initially trying to make a profit off of these tickets, but no one was buying. So the prices kept going down.

The reason I brought this up is to show that there just wasn't any interest from the people in the city. But yes I believe the NHL got their money either way.

Thanks. That was what I was curious about. If the NHL got their cake their care concern about the lack of the care concern will be lessened cuz this whole tournament was really just about making money for themselves.

They don't care about declaring which country is the best in the world like the fans do, frankly they don't really care about the game at all. They just want to line their pockets at the fan's expense.

 

[txpd]

Its a made for tv event for the Canadian market where the Canadian team is likely to win. Like the world junior tournament.

Its not the Olympics and not close to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

[86Habs]

Thanks. That was what I was curious about. If the NHL got their cake their care concern about the lack of the care concern will be lessened cuz this whole tournament was really just about making money for themselves.

They don't care about declaring which country is the best in the world like the fans do, frankly they don't really care about the game at all. They just want to line their pockets at the fan's expense.

They may have profited this time, but they will almost certainly have a much more difficult time selling ticket packages in 2020 (assuming there is a World Cup) with the original buyers making out so poorly on the resale market.

 

[BayStreetBully]

They may have profited this time, but they will almost certainly have a much more difficult time selling ticket packages in 2020 (assuming there is a World Cup) with the original buyers making out so poorly on the resale market.

I also think you'll see less fans from overseas. I get the feeling they'll just save up for the Olympics in the future. There's only one reason they chose to come to the World Cup over the Olympics to begin with, and that's because they thought they'd get a surreal hockey experience in Toronto (or Montreal) that you can't get in Sochi or Pyeongchang. But they couldn't even get that.

 

[86Habs]

I also think you'll see less fans from overseas. I get the feeling they'll just save up for the Olympics in the future. There's only one reason they chose to come to the World Cup over the Olympics to begin with, and that's because they thought they'd get a surreal hockey experience in Toronto (or Montreal) that you can't get in Sochi or Pyeongchang. But they couldn't even get that.

Maybe. Although the fans from overseas are also the ones that probably purchased the ticket packages for their own personal usage and attended every game. If they spent the money and enjoyed the hockey and experience, then good for them. If not, they'll know better next time. Its the scalpers, and those who bought the packages with a view to attending a few games and selling the rest at a profit, that made out horribly. Hard to feel sorry for them, really.

 

[BayStreetBully]

Maybe. Although the fans from overseas are also the ones that probably purchased the ticket packages for their own personal usage and attended every game. If they spent the money and enjoyed the hockey and experience, then good for them. If not, they'll know better next time. Its the scalpers, and those who bought the packages with a view to attending a few games and selling the rest at a profit, that made out horribly. Hard to feel sorry for them, really.

That's my point. I don't think they'll come next time, hurting overall sales.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

As soon as NA was eliminated my interest went Waaay down.

 

[llwyd]

I don't know, what can one say? - I think Canada Cup was a great tournament. But this version with the made up extra teams is just a joke, no emotion, no heart, no importance.

 

[86Habs]

That's my point. I don't think they'll come next time, hurting overall sales.

Yes, assuming they didn't enjoy their experience or the hockey. I can't see how they would have though, honestly. It's hard to say how much revenue the NHL projected to bring in from overseas fans, as they may have assumed that they could have sold out on the strength of the local Toronto fan base. Either way, we're in agreement that its unlikely that the NHL will do as well in 4 years time.

 

[Jussi]

I don't know, what can one say? - I think Canada Cup was a great tournament. But this version with the made up extra teams is just a joke, no emotion, no heart, no importance.

This tournament went down the wrong path when promoting how the moeny would be going to the league and palyers and how much money Sportsnet (stupidly) paid for the rights and how much money NHL would make from this tournament. If it wasn't considered a cash grab before that, the reputation was really earned after all that. No other serious major international tournament has been preceded by such talk of money. Especialyl for Europeans, that has been a huge turnoff.

 

[W75]

I don't know, what can one say? - I think Canada Cup was a great tournament. But this version with the made up extra teams is just a joke, no emotion, no heart, no importance.

Canada Cup was great, yes!

But there are still some positives. Watching hockey with no emotions was actually quite refreshing! Because normally after a long hockey season or big Tournament I'm often feeling devastated, lifeless, empty inside and almost physically worn out. WC was nothing, just moved on.