WJC: Tournament popularity outside Canada

[Urbanskog]

Where did he say so? He said that as they will get more success (in the future, maybe?), the popularity will increase.

Although our national team has pretty much blown it's chances for EURO 2016, the next possible momentum changer could be the Helsinki derby in Veikkausliiga next season. Since Jokerit left for the KHL, there is an empty void of "battle for Helsinki" to be filled. And fittingly, HIFK got promoted to the highest tier of football in Finland for the first time in 42 years. The media exposure the first derby will get will probably be higher than for any Jokerit - HIFK match in the recent years, save for maybe the first winter classic.

He mentioned soccer as a sport where Finland is "getting more international success".

The HIFK - HJK matchup is the most artificial attempt to create a "derby" there is. The clubs have a similar fan base and they're both profiled as teams of the downtown. What kind of a derby would it even be when HJK is bound to win ~95% of the time?

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Although our national team has pretty much blown it's chances for EURO 2016, the next possible momentum changer could be the Helsinki derby in Veikkausliiga next season. Since Jokerit left for the KHL, there is an empty void of "battle for Helsinki" to be filled. And fittingly, HIFK got promoted to the highest tier of football in Finland for the first time in 42 years. The media exposure the first derby will get will probably be higher than for any Jokerit - HIFK match in the recent years, save for maybe the first winter classic.

Veikkausliiga is a joke. That "derby" isn't gonna change anything when it comes to the general popularity of sports, not when the league is a laughing stock amongst football fans.

If football is to surpass hockey as the #1 sport, Finland must first gain international success. And considering we won't be able to make it to the Euro 2016 through an easy group, I don't see that happening any time soon.

 

[The Saw Is the Law]

In Sweden the popularity of hockey is probably something like this among non-hardcore fans

SHL/Allsvenskan > Olympics >> WHCs >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Other national team tournaments (EHT/WC) (somewhere after here causals stop caring) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WJCs >>>>>>> NHL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> KHL/Other leagues

In Finland:

Olympics >>WHCs >>>>>>>>>>Liiga>>>>>>EHT>>NHL>>>>>>>>>WJCs

I have no idea where to put KHL, can be before Liiga or the last

Ps. I hate EHT

 

[TheTwelfth]

The WJC is known in Sweden but I wouldn't call it popular. Casual fans don't care at all but hardcore fans do.

In Sweden the popularity of hockey is probably something like this among non-hardcore fans

SHL/Allsvenskan > Olympics >> WHCs >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Other national team tournaments (EHT/WC) (somewhere after here causals stop caring) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WJCs >>>>>>> NHL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> KHL/Other leagues

There's a lot of people that cheer for their hometown clubs or clubs that are close to their hometown/where they live, even if they don't always show it. You can ask most Swedes about which team they like and almost everyone will have an answer for you, even if they aren't that into hockey.

During the Olympics it seems like most people cares, especially further into the tournaments, same goes for the WHC if Tre Kronor does well. Then you can hear people talk about hockey on the streets/in the subway/on the bus etc but when there are no tournaments you almost never hear people talk about the national team or hockey in general.

WJCs is big among the more hardcore fans, mostly the same people that cares about prospects or the NHL. So it is quite a small minority of swedish hockey fans that really cares, at least compared to other kinds of hockey. It is growing though, SVT has really helped to make it grow, junior sports usually isn't popular at all in Sweden so I'm a bit surpised about that.

As an example, all my close friends have SHL teams that they cheer for but they almost never watch hockey (except for when it's the SHL-playoffs, then they might watch a game or two), most of them watch the Olympics if they have time and the WHCs if Sweden goes far (Semi-finals or final), one or two of them have gone to EHT a few times "to watch Tre Kronor" and they have caught a WJCs game sometime as well due to Sweden doing well but I've never heard any of them ever mention NHL or any other league, I would be surprised if they have seen any non SHL-games at club level ever.

This is not true. Ratings are always higher for national team games. Last year's WJC final had over a million people watching the game. In the smaller towns people might care more for their (successful) SHL team, but in the bigger cities (and thus the nation as a whole, on virtue of being bigger) the national team will always rule supreme. If AIK - Djurgården squared of in the SHL final, then perhaps Stockholm would care more about SHL than the national team that year.

WJC is definitely on the mainstream fan's hockey calendar now. It gets loads of media exposure from multiple newspapers, there are now two TV-stations broadcasting games, they have pre-tournament talks all through the fall etc.

 

[Den]

It's hard to make this popular in Europe if you show the final at 2 AM CET and 4 AM Moscow Time.

I went to sleep last night...

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

It's hard to make this popular in Europe if you show the final at 2 AM CET and 4 AM Moscow Time.

I went to sleep last night...

I agree. I never understood why they don't hold the final on Sunday at an earlier time.

 

[Canuck21t]

Canada has rapidly changed during my generation. The large metros are already majority minority or approaching that figure.

Hockey is seen as a small town white sport for the unsophisticated.

Canada is producing numerous basketball players now who already are or will be in the NBA.

With the way most Canadian NHL teams are playing, it wouldn't surprise me if, by the time some of the baby boomers die off, the NBA / basketball surpass NHL / hockey (and by corollary, WJC).

Unsophisticated? That's an excuse for being too poor to play the game.

 

[roto]

Lol, Finland has achieved international success at soccer? The Finnish national soccer team is in the same qualifying group for the Euro 2016 with the likes of Northern Ireland and Faroe Islands and they have already pretty much lost their chances to qualify. Liiga is the only fully professional league in the country and no other sports are even televised. The average attendance of the lottery league (Veikkausliiga) is barely 2000 and it's getting lower. As for volleyball and basketball, do you know anyone who actively follows those sports? I can say that I don't.

I never said that Finland is (or has been) successful in soccer. I was talking about future. In basketball and volleyball Finland already is successful enough to increase the popularity of the sport. In soccer Finland has still long way to go, but one participation in EC/WC could increase the public interest drastically.

I know a lot of people who watch volleyball and basketball. On the other hand I don't know anyone who gets high on WJC, or even anyone who watched all games of Team Finland in this tournament.

 

[Urbanskog]

I never said that Finland is (or has been) successful in soccer. I was talking about future. In basketball and volleyball Finland already is successful enough to increase the popularity of the sport. In soccer Finland has still long way to go, but one participation in EC/WC could increase the public interest drastically.

I know a lot of people who watch volleyball and basketball. On the other hand I don't know anyone who gets high on WJC, or even anyone who watched all games of Team Finland in this tournament.

Well gee, if volleyball and basketball have become so popular, I wonder why isn't this shown in the attendance figures.

 

[roto]

Well gee, if volleyball and basketball have become so popular, I wonder why isn't this shown in the attendance figures.

Actually it shows in the figures. Some time ago it was announced that attendance in local basketball league was up like ~10-15%. It's a good start, but for such small sports it takes time to build the big attendance numbers, because currently they're low. Soccer already has a big mass of registered players, so a positive bump on that side could have really noticeable effects.

I don't mean to say that ice hockey is endangered sports in Finland. I just predict that "big" team sports will get more popular in future.

 

[Urbanskog]

Actually it shows in the figures. Some time ago it was announced that attendance in local basketball league was up like ~10-15%. It's a good start, but for such small sports it takes time to build the big attendance numbers, because currently they're low. Soccer already has a big mass of registered players, so a positive bump on that side could have really noticeable effects.

I don't mean to say that ice hockey is endangered sports in Finland. I just predict that "big" team sports will get more popular in future.

Then again, a growth of 10-15% in attendance is easy to achieve when the numbers were so low to begin with. Kind of like the number of registered hockey players saw a growth of over 800% in the United Arab Emirates.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Actually it shows in the figures. Some time ago it was announced that attendance in local basketball league was up like ~10-15%.

It's easy to generate that kind of growth in attendance when the figure to increase from is 50 people.

Soccer already has a big mass of registered players, so a positive bump on that side could have really noticeable effects.

The number of registered players means nothing with respect to popularity. Football is much cheaper to play and a lot easier to master for young kids, which explains the rankings.

Canada has more registered players in football than hockey, but is nowhere near as popular.

 

[Reign Nateo]

This is not true. Ratings are always higher for national team games. Last year's WJC final had over a million people watching the game. In the smaller towns people might care more for their (successful) SHL team, but in the bigger cities (and thus the nation as a whole, on virtue of being bigger) the national team will always rule supreme. If AIK - Djurgården squared of in the SHL final, then perhaps Stockholm would care more about SHL than the national team that year.

WJC is definitely on the mainstream fan's hockey calendar now. It gets loads of media exposure from multiple newspapers, there are now two TV-stations broadcasting games, they have pre-tournament talks all through the fall etc.

Yeah I'm not sure why people want to downplay the tournament's popularity outside of Canada. Sure, it's way bigger in Canada than anywhere else, but it's far from as obscure as a lot of posters seem to want to make it out to be.

 

[gattaca]

I agree. I never understood why they don't hold the final on Sunday at an earlier time.

That is fairly obvious. Biggest driver is for tourney is Cdn attendance & tv ratings. TSN will get better ratings with games in the evening Cdn time.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

That is fairly obvious. Biggest driver is for tourney is Cdn attendance & tv ratings. TSN will get better ratings with games in the evening Cdn time.

Sunday at 4 PM EST would have been most reasonable for all parities involved, not at 8 PM EST on Monday when it's well past midnight in all of Europe.

The final game has always been scheduled on a Sunday in IIHF tournaments. Why change it now?

 

[byfuglien]

Its not even mentioned in the Norwegian media. Not once during the tournament have i come across of an article or it beeing mentioned.

 

[kaiser matias]

Sunday at 4 PM EST would have been most reasonable for all parities involved, not at 8 PM EST on Monday when it's well past midnight in all of Europe.

The final game has always been scheduled on a Sunday in IIHF tournaments. Why change it now?

It's due to the World Juniors traditionally ending on January 5, regardless of what day that falls on.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

It's due to the World Juniors traditionally ending on January 5, regardless of what day that falls on.

That's what I don't get. Why not just say the final will be on the first or second Sunday of January and then adjust the start time accordingly? The day of the final game is much more important than the day of the first game.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

They're expecting over 6000 Canadians to be in Helsinki next year. New European attendance record should be set after the party in Helsinki lol.

Among our Finnish friends here, who'll be attending the event next year?

 

[BruceOp]

Thank god that TSN saw the light, and realized that this tournament needed all the hype. There is not one hockey fan that I know that was watching this tournament that has ever been disappointed in the level of play.

I know I think the NCAA Football of Basketball fans south of the border are crazy for attending those games in droves, and how it is even televised. This is hockey's equivalent.

 

[ViD]

An interesting poll is being conducted on the biggest sports site in Russia - sports.ru - basically the question is "which world hockey championship do you prefer more - u20 or men", currently u20 leading with 66% of the votes

 

[Urbanskog]

An interesting poll is being conducted on the biggest sports site in Russia - sports.ru - basically the question is "which world hockey championship do you prefer more - u20 or men", currently u20 leading with 66% of the votes

Weird, most Russians I know only tune on every spring for the WCH.

 

[NyQuil]

An interesting poll is being conducted on the biggest sports site in Russia - sports.ru - basically the question is "which world hockey championship do you prefer more - u20 or men", currently u20 leading with 66% of the votes

Is it:

(a) The entertainment factor/passion that young players bring (either age, patriotism or scouting related)?
(b) The fact that the WC isn't best-on-best, but the U20 is as close as is currently possible?
(c) Russia has medalled the last 5 years in the WJCs, only 2 in five years at the WCs?
(d) The WJCs just ended with a very thrilling final? (timing of the poll)
(e) Some other reason?

 

[ViD]

Is it:

(a) The entertainment factor/passion that young players bring (either age, patriotism or scouting related)?
(b) The fact that the WC isn't best-on-best, but the U20 is as close as is currently possible?
(c) Russia has medalled the last 5 years in the WJCs, only 2 in five years at the WCs?
(d) The WJCs just ended with a very thrilling final? (timing of the poll)
(e) Some other reason?

All of the above and e - the poll is done in the hockey section of the website so it's targeting hockey fans . Casual sports fans obviously care about the men tournament only . I still find these results somewhat surprising

 

[NyQuil]

I suspect it's the timing.

If they do the poll again after the WCs, and the results are the same, then I'll truly be surprised.