New World Championships attendance record

[Jussi]

http://www.iihfworlds2014.com/en/news/attendance-competition/

When the quarter-finals will be played on Thursday, the record dating from the 2004 Worlds in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic, with a total attendance of 552,097 spectators will likely be broken thanks to full arenas throughout the whole tournament in Minsk, Belarus.

So much for people not caring about the Worlds anymore... What a difference ticket prices make.

Click to read more...

 

[Mehar]

http://www.iihfworlds2014.com/en/news/attendance-competition/



So much for people not caring about the Worlds anymore... What a difference ticket prices make.

They very much care in Europe. Way more than North America. Thanks for this link.

 

[kudymen]

http://www.iihfworlds2014.com/en/news/attendance-competition/



So much for people not caring about the Worlds anymore... What a difference ticket prices make.

...and what a difference a different playing system with more games played makes.

 

[stv11]

...and what a difference a different playing system with more games played makes.

This system has been used for three years now, there was the same number of games in 2012 and 2013.

 

[Canuckistani]

For the record, the highest per-game average attendance for a WC are:

Czechoslovakia - 1985 - 10,291
Czech Rep - 2004 - 9,859
Germany - 2010 - 9,800 (78,000 for game 1)
Finland - 1997 - 9,710
Sweden - 1989 - 9,704

Best attendance averages for all events:

2010 Olympics - Canada - 16,437
2004 World Cup - 6 nations - 15,999
1996 World Cup - 6 nations - 15,184
2012 World Juniors - Canada - 14,688
2009 World Juniors - Canada - 14,622

 

[JJTT]

Most "fans" are just Belarussians who are given free tickets/jerseys to games.

Slavic looking guys wearing a fake jerseys with no name in a back. Totally legit.

 

[kudymen]

This system has been used for three years now, there was the same number of games in 2012 and 2013.

Yeah I was referring to the article mentioning that the attendance will be higher than at the old system 2004 Prague championship, I didnt realize Jussi was reffering to the Swedish fiasco

 

[Dosing]

Swedish commentator noticed that halfway through many games the arenas are far from filled then in the end it's suddenly full house.

Really long hotdog lines?

 

[Canuckistani]

Most "fans" are just Belarussians who are given free tickets/jerseys to games.

Slavic looking guys wearing a fake jerseys with no name in a back. Totally legit.

Well it is the last dictatorship in Europe, so some old-school Soviet PR is to be expected.

It's kinda funny really.

 

[jekoh]

Not idea why you would need a name on the back of your jersey to be considered a "real fan".

I for one would pay more for a jersey without a player name on it.

 

[JJTT]

Not idea why you would need a name on the back of your jersey to be considered a "real fan".

I for one would pay more for a jersey without a player name on it.

You missed the point, it's clear that those are not the fans of the country what jersey are they wearing. For example old Belarussian guy wearing a Finnish jersey..

 

[Domenica]

You missed the point, it's clear that those are not the fans of the country what jersey are they wearing. For example old Belarussian guy wearing a Finnish jersey..

So you aren't just an expert on heritage, you can also mindread. Where is it written that you can't be a fan of another hockey nation?

I can't say I watched all the game but the ones I saw looked like they had a good attendance. For reference: arena Minsk 15,000 seats, Chizhovka arena 9,600 seats.

 

[JJTT]

So you aren't just an expert on heritage, you can also mindread. Where is it written that you can't be a fan of another hockey nation?

I can't say I watched all the game but the ones I saw looked like they had a good attendance. For reference: arena Minsk 15,000 seats, Chizhovka arena 9,600 seats.

why are you so mad? Do you honestly believe all those fans there are legit and not hired to be there by Lukashenko?

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Amazing accomplishment by Minsk! I expect this record will be challenged by the city of Prague next year. Each time the event was hosted in Prague a new record for the most part has been made. Beautiful city and I expect thousands of fans to make the trip.

Next year could actually see two new attendance records,

World Juniors in Montreal/Toronto and Prague 2015, shaping up to be a historic year for IIHF's main events.

 

[xxxx]

You missed the point, it's clear that those are not the fans of the country what jersey are they wearing. For example old Belarussian guy wearing a Finnish jersey..

So what? In Canada, in World Juniors for example, I would bet that 70 % of the fans - or more - at the games are from Canada. I would say that that is one of the points, to make the tournament in a place where people will be interested in it.

On the other hand, I agree that maybe some people were kinda forced to attend the games, who knows...but you gotta give them credit that they've made the tournament better and louder, which is good. Much better crowd than the Sochi one. When you see the Canada-Sweden game on youtube, the crowd is horrible...I'm not surprised that the players even didn't celebrated that much as in 2010, when it was in Canada with fantastic crowd and hockey atmosphere.

 

[maclean]

why are you so mad? Do you honestly believe all those fans there are legit and not hired to be there by Lukashenko?

I believe that probably lots of tickets were sold cheaply, maybe even given away. I'm a little sceptical that they were marched in there with kalashnikovs at their backs. Is it really so hard to believe that there were lots of Finnish fans there? It's not that long a flight.. Also Belarusians were obviously cheering for other teams too when theirs weren't playing, in the CZE-USA game they could be heard chanting "Chekhiya", I don't see what's wrong with that? Yes, Lukashenko is essentially a dictator, but one of the advantages of that is that tickets can be made cheap and fans are not gouged by greedy organisers.....

 

[Urbanskog]

No wonder. I remember watching the Germany - Kazakhstan match and even there around 13k people had showed up.

 

[Domenica]

why are you so mad? Do you honestly believe all those fans there are legit and not hired to be there by Lukashenko?

The only thing that makes me mad is that I can't find my tin-foil hat so I can put it on and share your view.

 

[S E P H]

http://www.iihfworlds2014.com/en/news/attendance-competition/



So much for people not caring about the Worlds anymore... What a difference ticket prices make.

Also factor in the new visa's integrated into the tickets was a genius idea as well.

 

[maclean]

Also factor in the new visa's integrated into the tickets was a genius idea as well.

Hilarious quote regarding the ticket-visas -

“If you have purchased a 10 euro ticket, no one will make you visit a match. If you don’t come to a match and go to the Museum of the Great patriotic War or a gallery of art instead, it will be just welcomeâ€

 

[Namejs]

The only thing that makes me mad is that I can't find my tin-foil hat so I can put it on and share your view.

If only I could be as naive as you are.

The bulk of the spectators in most games are Belarusians with free tickets handed to them by the government. If you disagree, you don't know what you're talking about and you obviously haven't paid enough attention.

They were chanting "Belarus, Belarus" in some of the games where Belarus wasn't playing. There were a lot of cases where locals are shown with the flags of, say, Finland, yet they're not cheering after they've scored a goal, etc.

 

[Namejs]

Also factor in the new visa's integrated into the tickets was a genius idea as well.

That slightly increased the number of people coming from Latvia and a few other countries, but overall it only increased the total attendance by a fraction. It's not the reason why they've broken the record.

 

[xxxx]

If only I could be as naive as you are.

The bulk of the spectators in most games are Belarusians with free tickets handed to them by the government. If you disagree, you don't know what you're talking about and you obviously haven't paid enough attention.

They were chanting "Belarus, Belarus" in some of the games where Belarus wasn't playing. There were a lot of cases where locals are shown with the flags of, say, Finland, yet they're not cheering after they've scored a goal, etc.

You are right, but do you have an evidence that the tickets were given to them for free? Or with some government pressure? Maybe. I don't know. Do you?

 

[Urbanskog]

Consider that this is the biggest international event that has ever taken place on the Belarusian soil. It's no wonder that people go watch the games.

 

[alce*]

No wonder. I remember watching the Germany - Kazakhstan match and even there around 13k people had showed up.

Dynamo Minsk have biggest attendance in KHL(second in the Europe) last year and second attendance in KHL(sixth in the Europe) this year, despite the fact that they didn't make playoff last year and were just plain horrible this year. So why the **** is anyone surprised in Beloriussian WC attendance? If FIFA in USA in 1994 could sell almost all tickets on FIFA world cup to people most of which haven't even known what real football looks like, what problem is to sell WC tickets to people who actually likes hockey and for whose WC is a very big deal?