New World Championships attendance record

[tony d]

Good to see this. I've always liked the World Hockey Championships. Perhaps my favourite international event.

 

[Biggest Elephant Eve]

before posting some ******** here, you should check some facts guys.
average attendance at Dinamo Minsk in the KHL were:
2013/2014 10,426
2012/2013 14,299

i would say hockey is the most popular sport in Belarus...so, i really don't think, that anyone is forcing people to see the games...

 

[VictorLustig]

That's great! We still have the record for smallest attendance though.

 

[joe89]

No hate/ifs/buts needed here, the crowds have been brilliant especially in Minsk arena.

 

[Zine]

I can't believe people think Lukashenko 'forced' people to attend.

 

[Domenica]

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

I also noticed a ton of personalized German flags around the arena in that game. Granted that might be a very German thing to do (bath towels and beach chairs, anyone?) that many other nations don't practice but I interpreted it as seeing a lot of German fans.

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 only I was as lucky as all those Belarusians getting free tickets. Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

 

[JJTT]

before posting some ******** here, you should check some facts guys.
average attendance at Dinamo Minsk in the KHL were:
2013/2014 10,426
2012/2013 14,299

i would say hockey is the most popular sport in Belarus...so, i really don't think, that anyone is forcing people to see the games...

Well a meaningless game between USA and Germany at 12:00 in the morning had nearly 12 000 spectators, that's over the average of Dinano Minsk home games last year. Just seems kinda weird that somebody would pay to see that game.

In fact every game in Group B had well over 10000 spectators per game, while not a single game in Group A had full capacity of 9600 spectators. It just seems weird that people would rather see a meaningless game Germany-USA than Canada-Sweden with lots of stakes.

 

[Jussi]

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.

Gee, I wonder why they celebrated more when they won the gold in OT on home ice...? What could possibly have been the reason for that?

 

[Cruor]

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?

The official explanation is that they are "family of organizers" or that corporations have bought it for their employees. Everyone in situ have noticed people being ushered in without any tickets. I hope people aren't as naive to think Lukashenko would let even the smallest blip ruin his WHC. This is SOP in a dictatorship, appearance is everything.

 

[agent082]

I don't think it is that rare to force people watch sport. Even in Finland cities force kids watch Ski jumping and Cross-country skiing. They say to teachers that pupils have to go and watch World cup events so stands don't look so empty.

 

[Namejs]

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?

That's what people who actually were in Minsk are saying.

I didn't say anything about government pressure. I'm sure there are a lot of people willing to watch hockey for free in Belarus (even if they have to hold a flag of Finland in their hands).

 

[Namejs]

If only I was as lucky as all those Belarusians getting free tickets. Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

Sweet deal for hockey fans - sure. But no reason to make any far-reaching conclusions about ticket pricing for the rest of Europe. That's not what brought all those people there. Unless you're suggesting to hand out tickets for free everywhere and turn every country into a socialist dictatorship.

 

[Eye of Ra]

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?

maybe it took them time to find the arena?

 

[maclean]

too bad our only options are giving all the tickets away for free or selling them all for upwards of 100 euro

 

[Domenica]

Sweet deal for hockey fans - sure. But no reason to make any far-reaching conclusions about ticket pricing for the rest of Europe. That's not what brought all those people there. Unless you're suggesting to hand out tickets for free everywhere and turn every country into a socialist dictatorship.

Are you confusing me with another poster? I didn't say anything about ticket prices in general. And I wasn't trying to imply that you should give tickets away for free in the future. In fact, I don't even believe that most of these tickets were free.

I was merely disagreeing with the people who had to find reasons to dislike a new attendence record by saying that a) the Belarusians are paid to sit in the arenas and b) the tickets were either cheap or free and c) the Belarusians cheer for the wrong team (themselves) when they are at the game (your comment).

It boils down to one argument: Belarusians who attended the games in Minsk aren't real hockey fans. Therefore the record is meaningless. These people don't have any agency of their own, right?

That's a bold statement. Entitled even.

 

[thom]

Not meant to be political but where are the liberals screaming about holding a tournament in Belarus-a govt controlled by a self proclaimed Dictator and country has some of worse human rights in europe-Please explain

 

[QnebO]

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

Have you been watching other games than Finlands? The atmosphere is terrific there. People are really having fun there, and there is thousands and thousands fans of only Latvians there for example, and they are legit ones. Unlike in Finland due to high ticket prices..

That atmosphere cant be just only fake. They really like their hockey and if their "good" old soviet goverment gives them free tickets (you were the first one to tell that but guess it could be true) so what? How does it change anything? The atmosphere is still great and free tickets are no crime. I'm sure people will go to watch games free and there is nothing wrong with it. Maybe there is things wrong about Belarus but they aren't monsters.

I don't think it is that rare to force people watch sport. Even in Finland cities force kids watch Ski jumping and Cross-country skiing. They say to teachers that pupils have to go and watch World cup events so stands don't look so empty.

This is also true. When my town had Finnish Championship skiing race, we went there to make the crowds bigger. I didin't see anything wrong in that though, we saw the skiing for free and it was off from normal school work.

What I'm saying even if the tickets were given free, its not fake or bad thing at all. Every country could give free tickets if they cared so much about the atmosphere. It's free choise. I get that most countries wont do that but it doesn't mean we should criticize Belarus about it. This is not only business for every one. I found it actually funny if people see giving free tickets to make the atmosphere better as some sort of bad thing or wrong. Aguess you can go too far (in my opinion) with capitalist thinking, too. With countries like Belarus, and perhaps Russia, its some times just good to let them do things their way. If in Soviet Russia the ticket buys you, then its like that

When it comes to political situation, I do not want to defend dictatorship, people need to have a choice and freedom. But this free tickets to make atmosphere thing could be made in capitalist countries too, and as said, it some times is done, too.

 

[Cruor]

Are you confusing me with another poster? I didn't say anything about ticket prices in general. And I wasn't trying to imply that you should give tickets away for free in the future. In fact, I don't even believe that most of these tickets were free.

I was merely disagreeing with the people who had to find reasons to dislike a new attendence record by saying that a) the Belarusians are paid to sit in the arenas and b) the tickets were either cheap or free and c) the Belarusians cheer for the wrong team (themselves) when they are at the game (your comment).

It boils down to one argument: Belarusians who attended the games in Minsk aren't real hockey fans. Therefore the record is meaningless. These people don't have any agency of their own, right?

That's a bold statement. Entitled even.

There's attendance records and then there are attendance records, I don't doubt for one second that hockey is hugely popular there. Just like it was in Latvia when a ticket cost half a months salary a few years back. It's a great testament to fans and to hockey that they went. But let's not be naive, there is a reason no game has been empty, and it isn't that hockey somehow is the biggest thing next to Jesus in Belarus.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

People complaining of free tickets being given out, wait until you see he World Juniors in Montreal, $80 seats and higher for the close seats to watch kids play Hockey, sheesh, it might set a new bar for free tickets given out, no one in Montreal will want to watch any other country then Canada so it'll be tough to fill the building. THey'll most likely manage but they need to change something, initial sales aren't exactly going well.

 

[Cruor]

People complaining of free tickets being given out, wait until you see he World Juniors in Montreal, $80 seats and higher for the close seats to watch kids play Hockey, sheesh, it might set a new bar for free tickets given out, no one in Montreal will want to watch any other country then Canada so it'll be tough to fill the building. THey'll most likely manage but they need to change something, initial sales aren't exactly going well.

And it's in that context this "record" has to be taken. Some countries aren't as desperate as others to put up a front.

 

[QnebO]

Yeah giving free tickets is so evil thing. Let's ruin everything with greediness in future again! Feel sad for that German fan in the pic. He probably didin't pay for that ********. It's not right, not even close. They should've keep the prices low and just give free tickets for school classes ect.

Kal€ made 8 million profit in Finland. It means he could've made the games much better atmosphere-wise and still be profitable. Greed..

Thanks belarus for holding one of the best tournaments ever.

 

[Cruor]

Who's said it's evil, or that people aren't there because they want to? You don't need to be silly, you know. All that's being argued is that this "record" needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Namejs]

It boils down to one argument: Belarusians who attended the games in Minsk aren't real hockey fans.

Nice strawman there, Ms. Wurst.

The argument can be boiled down to: the attendance record in Minsk can't be compared with the attendance rates in Europe, because no other country to my knowledge has handed out tickets for free to such large groups of people.

Just because they have the attendance record (all props to them for that), it doesn't mean that there are necessarily any lessons to take home for the organizers of the next IWHC events in Europe.

Nor does it mean that hockey is getting more popular or that IHWC is highly popular in Europe (as some posters from NA suggested earlier). The attendance rate in Minsk has nothing to do with that.

In a free-market situation the attendance rate in Belarus would be MUCH lower. Essentially, the IIHF made profits from the ticket sales through government sponsorship, which can only happen in Belarus (or other authoritarian regimes, potentially).

So unless you suggest that we should copy the way the Belarusians organized the event, I don't quite understand what point exactly are you trying to make here.

 

[Namejs]

Have you been watching other games than Finlands? The atmosphere is terrific there. People are really having fun there, and there is thousands and thousands fans of only Latvians there for example, and they are legit ones. Unlike in Finland due to high ticket prices..

The only reason why there were so many Latvians was how cheap it was to get there and how easy and fast it was to get back home (a 6 hour drive from Riga).

If there was no Gulf of Finland, you would get the same number of fans from Latvia in Helsinki, instead of just 3000 like in 2013.

 

[QnebO]

Who's said it's evil, or that people aren't there because they want to? You don't need to be silly, you know. All that's being argued is that this "record" needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Well, I have got the impression that this is seen in negative way for some reason. Seeing it evil or not, there is nothing to complain about that record, as long as the people aren't forced in outside of some school classes mid day.

The only reason why there were so many Latvians was how cheap it was to get there and how easy and fast it was to get back home (a 6 hour drive from Riga).

If there was no Gulf of Finland, you would get the same number of fans from Latvia in Helsinki, instead of just 3000 like in 2013.

3000 is nice, the problem is, even Finns didin't come to arena at all. Most non Finnish games were basically empty. Game between two lower grade teams in bad time could cost like 50€. There would've been fair amount of unemployed people in Helsinki caring enough about hockey and sausage, if the prices were like they should be in that sort of game..