Poor attendance

[Faterson]

You can`t expect full ice halls watching talented kids outside of US or Canada games

You can, if the price is right.

 

[Ori]

Obviously u can, but I doubt some teams from EU who are not well known prospects from the recent drafts like Denmark will house a full ice hall in the future even if the ticket cost 5$ and the U20 tournament is usually hosted in US or Canada.

Well you sold 40.000 tickets, that`s not too bad, it`s worst in soccer with younger international tournaments, and a lot more people play soccer around this world.

 

[Pouchkine]

This tournament is a disaster.

 

[Pilky01]

God is not on this tournament's side.

Unbelievable that the QEW to Buffalo would have all lanes closed right as the crowds would be heading out.

 

[Zippgunn]

Agreed on all points. I think ever since the loss to Russia in 2011 and not rebounding in Calgary in 2012 all the rabid excitement for this tournament wore off. Vancouver/Victoria will absolutely do better than Buffalo, but I'd be shocked if there's the same level of excitement as there was in 2006. I don't think Canada will even sell out any of their games.

I think in 2021, Hockey Canada needs to bite the bullet, hit reset, and start putting this tournament back into non-NHL markets. Saskatoon was great. Halifax, QC, London, Kelowna, or Moncton, just to name a few, could do a great job. Even Victoria on its own would have been a great host.

As a Victoria native I wholeheartedly agree with your last sentence. There is definitely a big buzz on already for this tourney. Now if only I could afford to go.Maybe I'll save up and, if I'm lucky, get to see a game featuring, say, Kazakhstan...

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

It took until the start of the 2nd period for the stadium to fill out. By that time the only empty spots were the top corners. Was weird being at a hockey game in Buffalo and hearing crowd noise. But I took my shirt off so I’ve at least got that going for me.

 

[Chainshot]

A 2nd period pic of the "home" side of the field sent by a friend in attendance. She was smart enough to get club seats, thus the heaters.

View media item 1057

 

[SackTastic]

Nice shot. That really looks like it filled in nicely for the back half. Definitely worked out overall. (Contrary to the 'WHAAAA OUTSIDE' sentiment expressed by so many.)

 

[SackTastic]

It took until the start of the 2nd period for the stadium to fill out. By that time the only empty spots were the top corners. Was weird being at a hockey game in Buffalo and hearing crowd noise. But I took my shirt off so I’ve at least got that going for me.

Triple points awarded for depressingly accurate crown noise dig.

 

[Pouchkine]

Are the games this weekend going to have decent crowds?

 

[Chainshot]

Nice shot. That really looks like it filled in nicely for the back half. Definitely worked out overall. (Contrary to the 'WHAAAA OUTSIDE' sentiment expressed by so many.)

It's from AV18 who has sadly taken leave of HF. I've had a few other people send me selfies from the game but that one of the crowd was by request.

 

[ForsakenSabre]

Are the games this weekend going to have decent crowds?

I've been trying to get friends to go to the USA Finland game but the Bills play at 4:25pm and they possibly have a chance to make the playoffs so the responce is "Are you nuts? The bills are playing". The Sunday attendance might be even worse because of that.

 

[Chainshot]

I've been trying to get friends to go to the USA Finland game but the Bills play at 4:25pm and they possibly have a chance to make the playoffs so the responce is "Are you nuts? The bills are playing". The Sunday attendance might be even worse because of that.

The reply there is "do you want to be entertained or do you want to be heart-broken... again?"

 

[Pouchkine]

Terrible crowds today as well.

 

[Canadian Time]

There's no defending these crowds of 1500 people, Buffalo did a poor job here. They counted on Canadian fans making the trip and it must be clear as a bell by now that the GTA doesn't support junior hockey, they are Leaf fans, not hockey fans.

 

[chauron]

shame, even the north pole regions of Canada would get full house on those 5000 people arenas

 

[Isaac Nootin]

There's no defending these crowds of 1500 people, Buffalo did a poor job here. They counted on Canadian fans making the trip and it must be clear as a bell by now that the GTA doesn't support junior hockey, they are Leaf fans, not hockey fans.

Yes, lets blame the GTA for the failure of a tournament several hours and a border crossing away.

Especially when they just hosted 2 WJC's and a WCoH in the past 3 years. Successfully I might add.

 

[4thlineduster]

There's no defending these crowds of 1500 people, Buffalo did a poor job here. They counted on Canadian fans making the trip and it must be clear as a bell by now that the GTA doesn't support junior hockey, they are Leaf fans, not hockey fans.

Incorrect......Buffalo in 2010 was rammed. People just aren't willing to shell out literally hundreds of dollars for a single ticket when they are initially released.

Yes prices drop but most people can't drop everything to go to Buffalo on a few hours or days notice.

Hockey Canada and USA Hockey can expect empty stadiums as long as they keep thinking people will blindly be gouged.

 

[novisor]

Yes, lets blame the GTA for the failure of a tournament several hours and a border crossing away.

Especially when they just hosted 2 WJC's and a WCoH in the past 3 years. Successfully I might add.

"Successfully" crowds were a joke in Toronto, only overshadowed by the bigger joke that was Montreal.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

"Successfully" crowds were a joke in Toronto, only overshadowed by the bigger joke that was Montreal.

Got stats to back that up? Crowds in Toronto were fantastic and thats with no Semi Finals, Gold Medal, Bronze etc.

When schedules were flipped in 2015 Toronto was an ever bigger success.

But by all means, continue to blame the failure of Buffalo and the IIHF in 2018 on Toronto hockey fans.

 

[Rob]

Incorrect......Buffalo in 2010 was rammed. People just aren't willing to shell out literally hundreds of dollars for a single ticket when they are initially released.

Yes prices drop but most people can't drop everything to go to Buffalo on a few hours or days notice.

Hockey Canada and USA Hockey can expect empty stadiums as long as they keep thinking people will blindly be gouged.

Any idea what the prices will be like for Vancouver/Victoria?

 

[Canuckistani]

Got stats to back that up? Crowds in Toronto were fantastic and thats with no Semi Finals, Gold Medal, Bronze etc.

When schedules were flipped in 2015 Toronto was an ever bigger success.

The attendance at 2015 and 2017 WJCs in Toronto & Montreal wasn't all that impressive.

Canada's games drew...

2015 in Montreal (round robin): 14,142 vs Slovakia, 12,733 vs Germany, 15,718 vs Finland, 18,295 vs USA (No sellouts, even 3,000 empty seats vs the Americans).

2015 in Toronto (QF, SF, Final): 18,448 vs Denmark, 18,002 vs Slovakia, 19,014 vs Russia (better than Montreal but only the final sells out).

2016 in Toronto (round robin): 18,099 vs Russia, 12,694 vs Slovakia, 13,796 vs Latvia, 18,584 vs USA

2017 in Montreal (QF, SF, Final): 10,215 vs Czech, 13,456 vs Sweden, 20,173 vs USA (1,000 empty seats for the gold medal game!)

Ticket price was a factor, but there's just not the same buzz for the WJC in those two cities as there is in places like Winnipeg, Halifax, Red Deer, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary or Saskatoon.

 

[Canuckistani]

The attendance for this WJC is shockingly worse than 2011. Quite astounding.

In 2011 very single game at the Key West Center drew over 12,000 - even for games like Switzerland vs Germany. USA games were mostly 13,000-16,000 with a sell out (18,690) vs Canada. Team Canada games were either sellouts or about 1,000 short.

Fast forward seven years and neither Canada or USA can even reach 10,000 so far (not counting the 44,000+ at the outdoor game, which had tens of thousands of empty seats).

Is the pricing that much worse this time?

 

[Damisoph]

I was stunned at the audacity of the organizers trying to charge upwards of $1,000/$1,500 for a ticket package. They have only themselves to blame.

 

[Lepardi]

The fact is no one cares about this tournament except the players playing in it, their immediate families, and Canadians.

The arena was full in the playoff games for Finland two years ago. There are NHL fans here in Finland who think the WJC is the greatest thing since bread came sliced. They always remember to tell us how meaningless the World Championships in May are compared to the WJC, and they like to mock the "stupid masses" who get all excited when Finland does well in the "Skoda Cup". I call these Finnish fans hockey hipsters. They know that the World Juniors is big in Canada. Raving about the WJC allows them to feel like they're almost Canadians themselves, and obviously Canada is SOOO much cooler than Finland.

These hockey hipsters always like to remind us that what makes the WJC meaningful is that "practically all the best players are taking part", unlike in the Skoda Cup in May. When Finland beat Canada in the QF two years ago, Canada was missing McDavid, Ekblad, Bennett, Fabbri and McCann. But hey, "practically all the best" players were still there.