WJC: Attendance

[OilerPensfan97]

The group stage attendance will probably be even worse next time in Montreal, because Canada's pool will be in Toronto.

They should seriously consider a change of plans and replacing Montreal with Ottawa, where people will actually be into it.

I'd be all for this. Ottawa is by FAR the best WJC city in not just Canada but the world. And it's not only for Canada games either. I mean, seriously; the Kazakhstan/Germany game got over 18 000 people. Montreal would have a thousand or less for those two teams.

 

[Canadian Finn]

I'd be all for this. Ottawa is by FAR the best WJC city in not just Canada but the world. And it's not only for Canada games either. I mean, seriously; the Kazakhstan/Germany game got over 18 000 people. Montreal would have a thousand or less for those two teams.

Absolutely agreed.

 

[BigZ65]

I'd be all for this. Ottawa is by FAR the best WJC city in not just Canada but the world. And it's not only for Canada games either. I mean, seriously; the Kazakhstan/Germany game got over 18 000 people. Montreal would have a thousand or less for those two teams.

Or play the whole thing in the GTA. Use the Hershey Centre for the pool opposite Canada's or something. Having 3500 in a junior rink should give a better atmosphere than 3500 in a 21000 seat NHL rink.

 

[RRfromfaraway]

just got back from the first semi-final game. I picked up gold seats 2 hours before the game from stub hub for 47$/seat. Face value is 200$. I heard you could get similar deals for Montreal games..... no excuses.

Also, went to the relegation game on Saturday night. Got tickets from stub hub for 20$ (face value 35$) and there were lots of families and I guess around 12-14K people. Both games were excellent!

 

[Cellee]

Props again to TO.

Great support of the Canadian kids.

You guys have made this tournament fun to watch. Great to see it's not just a Leafs market, as often stated.

 

[pucky]

The tickets are too expensive. It's a cash grab. Greed ruining the enjoyment of (watching) hockey again.

http://www.macroinsider.com/sports/...or-world-junior-games-in-montreal-h33360.html

"IIHF president Rene Fasel on Sunday that if those costs were in spot for a world junior tournament in Europe, there would be no one in the arena."

 

[Cellee]

Expensive tickets and TO still filling the rink, and, as important, great atmosphere.

TO, you deserve 2017.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

The Air Canada Centre is probably the worst place in the World of professional Hockey to watch a game, but glad to see for once it can come alive somewhat. Still pales in comparison to Montreal's atmosphere and in arena magic, but they'll learn, one day lol.

 

[The Price is Right]

BTW its very stupid that they scheduled Canada games at the same time that the Habs are playing right at the exact time... Pretty stupid whoever made the schedul.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

BTW its very stupid that they scheduled Canada games at the same time that the Habs are playing right at the exact time... Pretty stupid whoever made the schedul.

Right, watch another boring NHL game with robots or watch entertaining Hockey with players who actually give a crap for what they're playing for.

Really hard choice.

I feel sorry for people who watch NHL Hockey over World Juniors, the quality difference in terms of entertainment and viewing pleasure is uncomparable, what makes sport unique is the stage of the event, if you need to watch an NHL game in a endless season of useless games over these kids playing their hearts out , your the one missing out. Don't complain.

 

[emmjayb]

Props again to TO.

Great support of the Canadian kids.

You guys have made this tournament fun to watch. Great to see it's not just a Leafs market, as often stated.

Agreed... and it pains me somewhat to say it. But T.O. fans have been amazing, particularly their salutes for Denmark and Slovakia for well-played tournaments. Fantastic.

 

[Cellee]

The TO crowd chanting "goalie" after the game.

Awesome, just awesome TO.

 

[The Spaniard]

Right, watch another boring NHL game with robots or watch entertaining Hockey with players who actually give a crap for what they're playing for.

Really hard choice.

I feel sorry for people who watch NHL Hockey over World Juniors, the quality difference in terms of entertainment and viewing pleasure is uncomparable, what makes sport unique is the stage of the event, if you need to watch an NHL game in a endless season of useless games over these kids playing their hearts out , your the one missing out. Don't complain.

Are you talking about the intensity of watching a semi final we all knew who was gonna win before the puck was dropped? Fascinating. I lasted till 3-0.

 

[Pi]

The Air Canada Centre is probably the worst place in the World of professional Hockey to watch a game, but glad to see for once it can come alive somewhat. Still pales in comparison to Montreal's atmosphere and in arena magic, but they'll learn, one day lol.

If the Leafs played their hearts out and gave an effort it wouldn't be so hard to cheer for them.

Prior to the full season lockout ACC was always rocking because you knew what type of game the Leafs would play regardless of win or loss. Heavy forecheck, hard hitting team with a white collar approach to hockey. Habs were quiet at that time.

Winning cures everything. No reason to cheer if your goalie is the only one giving an effort on most nights.

 

[Cellee]

Agreed... and it pains me somewhat to say it. But T.O. fans have been amazing, particularly their salutes for Denmark and Slovakia for well-played tournaments. Fantastic.

Yup they have been great embassadors for this tournament, and the sport, just awesome.

 

[Tutu to]

it was nice to see the ACC without tons of empty seats for a change.

 

[Budddy]

I am from the states so I may not be correct when I say this, but doesn't Montreal/Quebec want to secede from Canada? Could that partially be a reason as to why the attendance was so much lower in addition to the ridiculous ticket prices?

Meh...you were replying to a Toronto fan boy who was chest thumping....

No need to crap on Montreal....it is what it is and the 2 cities are Different..certainly the corporate ability to buy tickets is more prevalent in Toronto than Montreal...

 

[Proust*]

Meh...you were replying to a Toronto fan boy who was chest thumping....

No need to crap on Montreal....it is what it is and the 2 cities are Different..certainly the corporate ability to buy tickets is more prevalent in Toronto than Montreal...

Toronto's economy is much, much better than Montreal's economy. Toronto should get credit for their economy crushing Montreal's economy. It is a better city in which to hold world-class events like the World Junior Hockey Championship and the Pan-am Games. Montreal should be hosting women's house league games.

 

[Inkling]

Or play the whole thing in the GTA. Use the Hershey Centre for the pool opposite Canada's or something. Having 3500 in a junior rink should give a better atmosphere than 3500 in a 21000 seat NHL rink.

As much as I wouldn't like to see things yanked from Montreal, I do prefer to see cities hosting the tournament on their own rather than sharing. The Ricoh Coliseum would be ideal too at about 7K. Toronto could easily host on their own without a partner.

My preference would be to fix the pricing and have Montreal do a proper job of co-hosting, since it was already announced for 2017. In the future, just give it to one city unless it's really small like Saskatoon/Regina.

 

[Budddy]

Toronto's economy is much, much better than Montreal's economy. Toronto should get credit for their economy crushing Montreal's economy. It is a better city in which to hold world-class events like the World Junior Hockey Championship and the Pan-am Games. Montreal should be hosting women's house league games.

That's constructive...

 

[Gainesvillain]

just got back from the first semi-final game. I picked up gold seats 2 hours before the game from stub hub for 47$/seat. Face value is 200$. I heard you could get similar deals for Montreal games..... no excuses.

ummmm...you're trying to compare a semi-final game to a (meaningless) preliminary round game? Seriously?!

I think people are still missing the larger point which is that HC threw a wet blanket over the Montreal part of the tournament by putting ridiculously high values on the tickets and forcing people to buy them in entire packages with few-to-no meaningful games. The medal round is only in Toronto. For most Montrealers the WJC was a complete non-starter and people like me put it out of our minds weeks & weeks ago based on the initial face value of the tickets.

 

[Canuckistani]

I'd be all for this. Ottawa is by FAR the best WJC city in not just Canada but the world. And it's not only for Canada games either. I mean, seriously; the Kazakhstan/Germany game got over 18 000 people. Montreal would have a thousand or less for those two teams.

Yeah, Ottawa in 2009 was something special.

At the main arena (20,000 capacity), the smallest crowd that tournament was 17,936 for the 5th place game between USA-Czech.

At the smaller area (9,000+ capacity) every single game either sold out or had only a few hundred empty seats - even the relegation round!

 

[CBlake]

Toronto showed even without Canada in the group people came to the games. Toronto unlike Montreal sold a pretty significant amount of the tickets via full 19 packages with a very quiet release of single game tickets right at the end.
People buying packages beginning at over $600 a ticket have money to spend and likely fall into a high income bracket thus not worry if they did not make a few games because of the holiday season. This is where the secondary market really came into play in giving fans the opportunity to go to some games without doing much damage to their wallet. Heck I went to what I would consider my alltime favourite hockey experience at the ACC when I sat 15 rows from centre ice for the Denmark Switzerland , picked up the pair for $28.

I just wonder after seeing how Toronto reacted especially with the non-Canada games if going to a city where the secondary arena is 4-5 K is really an option at this point.

 

[Cellee]

Not sure why Hockey Canada would get the blame for ticket prices.

Unless its changed, host cities bid on the tournament by guaranteeing a certain level of return. Based on that, ticket pricing falls squarely on Montreal event organizers.

 

[Stats01]

The Air Canada Centre is probably the worst place in the World of professional Hockey to watch a game, but glad to see for once it can come alive somewhat. Still pales in comparison to Montreal's atmosphere and in arena magic, but they'll learn, one day lol.

Well you guys will learn to one day support the Canadian juniors until then you pale in comparison to Toronto's atmosphere, could learn a few things.

It'll be nice to see the Bell Centre come alive somewhat. Until then do what your "Habs town" does and go out and support your Habs. Because we know you guys won't support anything else hockey