Well the exorbitant initial prices caused people look away and then nobody checks again. If they had started out with lower prices I definitely think attendance would be significantly higher.
Poor attendance
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Well the exorbitant initial prices caused people look away and then nobody checks again. If they had started out with lower prices I definitely think attendance would be significantly higher.
Canadian Finn
Oskee Wee Wee
but that is how supply and demand works....
and if those in buffalo had been paying attention to the last games in Toronto and Montreal they would have seen the massive decrease in pricing.
I don't think anyone is surprised.....
and if those in buffalo had been paying attention to the last games in Toronto and Montreal they would have seen the massive decrease in pricing.
I don't think anyone is surprised.....
No it isn't. Supply and demand doesn't explain everything - that's not the world works.
Can we all agree that lower ticket prices initially not a week before the tourney when people already have plans would have raised attendance. That being said was Buffalo the best place to host this, no. Would we ever have 10k people for non-US/Canada games - no. But I feel that a full stadium for Canada and the US would've been possible.
Can we all agree that lower ticket prices initially not a week before the tourney when people already have plans would have raised attendance. That being said was Buffalo the best place to host this, no. Would we ever have 10k people for non-US/Canada games - no. But I feel that a full stadium for Canada and the US would've been possible.
TheBeastCoast
Registered User
You just do not get big walk up crowds to sporting events at this point. It is completely unrealistic to think people are going to change plans on a dime and head up after more then likely already making plans after seeing how expensive they priced this tournament initially. The secondary market being dirt cheap is a effect of the ticket prices being to high and people just checking out.
Canadian Finn
Oskee Wee Wee
Well if you think you can get 18,000 plus for your home team games, good luck.
I think it said "I paid for everyone's tickets tonight, someone else needs to buy the beer"Saw a sign WJ ticket prices 2,500....
I think it must have went on to say something like winning priceless.
Bought seats for the whole tournament but went to way less games than the last time the tournament was here because honestly it’s freezing cold in Buffalo at the moment and the arena itself is freezing cold, much more than normal. Just a horrible week here in Buffalo which is a shame because there is so much more to do here now and it’s so much nicer than 2011. The Sabres have many activities outside on the waterfront set up for this too that I and most will never see or attend with sub zero wind chills. I think people care a little bit less about hockey in Buffalo at the moment due to the Sabres being horrible for what seems like forever. Maybe I’m just getting old.
Yatzhee
Registered User
- Aug 5, 2010
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Buffalo is now considered a top 10 destination for hockey related events according to The Hockey News and TSN.
There reasoning was simplistic and honest. Terry Pegula has built the infrastructure to accomodate such.
The location isn't a significant portion of the problem. If you build it, they will come is only true with appropriate marketing well in advance of events like these. They blanketed the local regional corridor, they lapsed on the larger scale.
The weather (bitterly cold temps and, for the outdoor games, wind chill) and the time of year (post holiday's when a majority are financially tapped out) played much larger roles than it just being "Buffalo".
MOGlLNY
Hotel Cuck Chair Adams
- Jan 5, 2008
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Most people have 0 desire to travel downtown from the suburbs in single digit temperatures to see junior hockey. Bottom line. Pretty sure the attendance was solid last time the tournament was here.
I'm sure the Sabres being an absolute joke for the past few years has worn on a ton of people as well.
I'm sure the Sabres being an absolute joke for the past few years has worn on a ton of people as well.
In regards to the marketing aspect, I feel they were largely promoting the outdoor game more than the actual tournament. I'm interested to see how many tickets they sold for that. Regardless of how many were sold, I imagine there are quite a few people that might take a pass on it now. I was smart enough to think twice about being outside in Buffalo in December.
Hmm, the temperature really is a problem? "Single digit fahrenheit"? I really was expecting something actually bad after reading all the complaints but that's not even bad. if it was like under -10 fahrenheit I'd get it, but isn't that just a normal winter temperature? If it's much higher than that you don't even get proper snow. I much, much rather have single digit fahrenheit than on both sides of 30 and wet snow(Ugh!). A temperature where you get dry snow that just bounces off your clothes and doesn't stick is just about the perfect winter temperature, as long as it doesn't go down to like -15 fahrenheit.
Oilslick941611
Registered User
Yatzhee
Registered User
- Aug 5, 2010
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Lake Effect Snows don't just bounce off your clothes, no matter the temperature.
What they do is make for treacherous travel conditions.
usahockey22flyers
2 years away from being 2 years away
This has always been a very niche/hockey hipster tournament in the USA. I’ll be curious to see where the ticket sales numbers stand post Championship in comparison to 2011.
The discrepancy between the decent clubs and the also-rans in recent years can't help ticket sales either. There are way too many games in these tournaments where the result is a blowout. The "local" teams, in Canada and the US, pummel all but the top tier of seven nations at the U20 level. Those round robin games so far that are competitive do not involve the host clubs, and while the discerning fan can appreciate a Switzerland-Belarus tilt, lofty ticket prices/ticket bundle packages will leave many staying at home.
What is a draw then? Any Canada-US action will be a draw. That's a guaranteed strong game, between what are essentially the two host countries. Fans of both teams need not travel far. Probably also games featuring either country versus Russia will be a draw. Add any Sweden-Finland games, because everyone knows the hockey will be of high quality, they're fairly even, and they always hate each other.
Yet when the US or Canada are expected to paste a team 6-0, 9-0, and regularly do so... increasingly this means that the games featuring one of the North American countries against the rising countries are a tough sell... on top of the fact that none of the games featuring two rising countries are a draw in North America at all. We're seeing attendance in the hundreds for those games.
That is where pricing rears its head. When many of the games aren't much of a draw, the way they price these tourneys is a major disincentive. Yes, as has been pointed out, the industrious fan can find considerable markdown on the day of the game online, or in a traditional scalping situation. Yet you are restricting yourself to even more of a niche market of relative technophiles at that point. Hockey is already a niche market in the US. Think about where you're starting from here. This is, after all, only junior hockey and it's in the US, where it's the fifth? sixth? seventh? most popular sport (football, NASCAR, baseball, basketball, soccer, and maybe more have eclipsed it).
Expect decent crowds for games between any two of Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland. I'm not sure if the Czech Republic is in that tier (as far as the draw goes in North America), no matter how good they looked vs. Russia. I don't think that Slovakia is anymore. None of the other countries are going to be a draw, even against the North American teams when the tourney is in North America, because everyone expects a rout and the prices are now high every year, no matter where it's held.
The way TSN markets the tourney and Canadians eat it up, nothing is going to change either. The prices are high and they are going to stay high, which is going to push the IIHF to go increasingly to cities it believes can absorb those high prices, at least somewhat. There is probably no going back, not until the box office really implodes.
What is a draw then? Any Canada-US action will be a draw. That's a guaranteed strong game, between what are essentially the two host countries. Fans of both teams need not travel far. Probably also games featuring either country versus Russia will be a draw. Add any Sweden-Finland games, because everyone knows the hockey will be of high quality, they're fairly even, and they always hate each other.
Yet when the US or Canada are expected to paste a team 6-0, 9-0, and regularly do so... increasingly this means that the games featuring one of the North American countries against the rising countries are a tough sell... on top of the fact that none of the games featuring two rising countries are a draw in North America at all. We're seeing attendance in the hundreds for those games.
That is where pricing rears its head. When many of the games aren't much of a draw, the way they price these tourneys is a major disincentive. Yes, as has been pointed out, the industrious fan can find considerable markdown on the day of the game online, or in a traditional scalping situation. Yet you are restricting yourself to even more of a niche market of relative technophiles at that point. Hockey is already a niche market in the US. Think about where you're starting from here. This is, after all, only junior hockey and it's in the US, where it's the fifth? sixth? seventh? most popular sport (football, NASCAR, baseball, basketball, soccer, and maybe more have eclipsed it).
Expect decent crowds for games between any two of Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland. I'm not sure if the Czech Republic is in that tier (as far as the draw goes in North America), no matter how good they looked vs. Russia. I don't think that Slovakia is anymore. None of the other countries are going to be a draw, even against the North American teams when the tourney is in North America, because everyone expects a rout and the prices are now high every year, no matter where it's held.
The way TSN markets the tourney and Canadians eat it up, nothing is going to change either. The prices are high and they are going to stay high, which is going to push the IIHF to go increasingly to cities it believes can absorb those high prices, at least somewhat. There is probably no going back, not until the box office really implodes.
MOGlLNY
Hotel Cuck Chair Adams
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lol @ "dry cold" being a thing in Buffalo. That doesn't exist here being by Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
I guarantee you, peoples salaries haven't gone up nearly as much as the ticket prices + exchange rate. And no one mentioned the current living costs, in case some don't know - housing in GTA area skyrocketed to insane levels since 2011. Between all the holiday spending and regular life expenses squeezing a doubly expensive hockey game is not even an option for most.
You add the last 2 WJCs here, "World" Cup and Team Canada doing 'meh' overall and hence the result.
Overall, perhaps the most disappointing thing of all is that they killed the international feeling of this. It just feels like a North American party. I miss the WJCs in Czech Rep, Sweden, Russia..
A lot of obvious factors tied together by greed has hurt this tournament, not just in Buffalo this year.
You add the last 2 WJCs here, "World" Cup and Team Canada doing 'meh' overall and hence the result.
Overall, perhaps the most disappointing thing of all is that they killed the international feeling of this. It just feels like a North American party. I miss the WJCs in Czech Rep, Sweden, Russia..
A lot of obvious factors tied together by greed has hurt this tournament, not just in Buffalo this year.
The insane ticket prices "started" when they made the round robin meaningless, fans are not that stupid.
I personally think Buffalo is too "major" of a city. It's a city that has an NFL team for crying out loud, as well as an NHL team.
This tournament is great, but when I lived in Toronto I wouldn't go out of my way to attend it. Now living in Los Angeles, I wouldn't go out of my way to go see it if it were here either.
It belongs in a small junior city or a great college hockey town like somewhere in North Dakota or Wisconsin. Buffalo has too many other entertainment options and the brutal weather doesn't help either.
This tournament is great, but when I lived in Toronto I wouldn't go out of my way to attend it. Now living in Los Angeles, I wouldn't go out of my way to go see it if it were here either.
It belongs in a small junior city or a great college hockey town like somewhere in North Dakota or Wisconsin. Buffalo has too many other entertainment options and the brutal weather doesn't help either.
I think his point is "It isn't a brand new law catching you off guard; a passport has been required for land crossing for over 8 years now".
