The 1992 WJC in Germany, from all accounts, was fairly attended. But the eisstadion capacities were somewhat limited since the arena in Kaufbeuren only holds 4560 (1000 seats, 3560 standing) and the arena in Fussen has just 1691 seats and room for 2000 standing. Some of the game attendances for the 1992 WJC in Germany are listed below:
CAN vs Germany - 4000 att., USA vs Finland - 1500, Switzerland vs CAN - 550,
USA vs Germany - 4000 att., CAN vs Sweden - 2500, USA vs Switzerland - 1000,
Finland vs CAN - 1500 att., Sweden vs USA - 700, Canada vs USA - 3000,
USA vs USSR - 1500 att., CZE vs CAN - 3500, Canada vs USSR - 4000
As for the poor attendance at the 1996-97 WJC tournament held in Switzerland, this article may help to explain the reasons why.
It is from Canadian Press, dated January 5, 1997, titled:
Swiss tournament filled with holes
GENEVA -- The sea of empty seats at Vernets Arena for games at the World Juniors suggests immediately this isn't Winnipeg, Hamilton, Red Deer or Trois-Rivieres. And that's precisely the message tournament director Otto-Max Fischer delivered as the tournament ended, having drawn only 30,000 spectators to 31 games in Geneva and Morges, Switzerland.
Fischer said: "When the IIHF gave us the tournament, they knew a World Juniors in Switzerland is not comparable to a world juniors in Canada. The world juniors are respected in Canada like nowhere else in the world. People here in Europe read of the word junior and it makes them think of kids, small boys, which it isn't."
Fischer said the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation knew when it awarded the tournament to Geneva and Morges that crowds would be small and that local interest would be minimal. He said the tournament in Switzerland will lose between
$200,000 and $300,000 on a budget of about $1 million. Fischer said, "From a sporting standpoint, it's been excellent."
As for the meagre crowds seen by television audiences daily in Canada, he said: "We knew it would be like that before, so we're not disappointed. It was a chance to develop hockey in the region and strengthen the culture of hockey here in Switzerland."
But politics played a role in the tournament being held in Geneva. Switzerland will play host to the 1998 Senior World Championship in Zurich and Basel in the majority German-speaking part of the country, where hockey is more popular. However, to keep the peace, the federation gave the junior event to the French-speaking region known as Romandy, where hockey is less popular. The federation did this to make sure both sides got an event.