IIHF World Championships Fan Interest

[Albatros]

Thats wildly inaccurate. I said those 8 games are of no interest. They aren't. They have minimal affects on the standings and or quarterfinals. The other neat story out of them (other then Denmark) is that the Swiss are now 15-0 for goals for and against in 3 undefeated games. They are killing it.

I know you're not suggesting anything extreme, but regarding that in particular it's worth remembering that Switzerland used to be a second-tier country for much of the 1990s. Having meaningless games with Switzerland every other year back then and in the early 2000s in part enabled them to become a serious challenger.

 

[Czechboy]

I know you're not suggesting anything extreme, but regarding that in particular it's worth remembering that Switzerland used to be a second-tier country for much of the 1990s. Having meaningless games with Switzerland every other year back then and in the early 2000s in part enabled them to become a serious challenger.

I agree! At the U20 I love watching those matches betweeen 9 and 10. I hope 11 through 14 or whatever it is improve and make it more compelling.

 

[Poro24]

I really hope Finland doesn't get to host these for atleast another 10 years. The ridiculous prices kill the atmosphere. Foreign fans dont want to come and pay these prices. Average attentance is super low compared to other tournaments (just look at the attendances in Germany, Czechia and even Paris couple years ago, wow!).

And the Finnish ice hockey federation have sold hundreds of tickets to companies and not for real fans. The company workers just sit quiet in the crowd. For Finland this tournament is just a way to make some free money, not a way to make fans happy.

And also it seems that for some reason the star players dont want to come a tournament in Finland.

Also the current playing format is a joke. I dont understand what was the problem in the previous format that was used until 2011 i think. It felt that then every game mattered.

 

[Speyer]

I know you're not suggesting anything extreme, but regarding that in particular it's worth remembering that Switzerland used to be a second-tier country for much of the 1990s. Having meaningless games with Switzerland every other year back then and in the early 2000s in part enabled them to become a serious challenger.

Switzerland already had fairly a strong domestic league in the 90's and a pretty long hockey tradition. They didn't become a better because they were allowed to play better nations at the WC. Its all about infrastructure and general interest in hockey from a fan and player perspective. There is literally zero chance that Denmark or Norway could repeat the "Swiss path" in the future just because they are allowed to compete in this tourney.

 

[Albatros]

Be that as it may, also Denmark has improved nicely there even without a strong domestic league.

 

[snipes]

Lack of Russia really hurts international hockey in my view. Especially considering the historical links between Canada and Russia as hockey rivals.

I’m not going to get into any politics of it, but as someone who has a thorough knowledge and understanding of international hockey the truth is without Russia playing international events have far less significance.

I always viewed hockey as a form of diplomacy between Canada and Russia as the hockey between our two nations is always fantastic. It created a kind of special bond between our countries as historical rivals. The game substantially advanced due to this.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Switzerland already had fairly a strong domestic league in the 90's and a pretty long hockey tradition. They didn't become a better because they were allowed to play better nations at the WC. Its all about infrastructure and general interest in hockey from a fan and player perspective. There is literally zero chance that Denmark or Norway could repeat the "Swiss path" in the future just because they are allowed to compete in this tourney.

For whatever reason, the TSN guys always hype up how some lousy national team getting beat 8-0 by Canada and such is going to lead to improvements. I think they just feel the need to say something, because none of that makes any sense. It's all about having a good hockey infrastructure in place (and of course a larger population is always useful). That's why if anyone is going to make a big leap, it's likely Germany because they have a pretty high level pro league in place from which youth teams can rise, and we know there is a path there as players like Leon Draisaitl and Moritz Seider have come through it, just not enough players in large enough numbers... so you figure it's just a popularity thing more than anything else.

 

[Albatros]

Well, Canada won the biggest relegation candidates 5:2 and 5:1 this year which are the kind of scores we also see in the Stanley Cup playoffs rather frequently. Germany meanwhile is eight points behind Denmark (who beat Canada last year) after the first three games, albeit with a more difficult schedule.

 

[garbageteam]

I'm going to say it and I'm aware that it's going to get immense backlash but as someone who has followed this tourney for 15 plus years it's baffling we get any coverage of it in Canada. I like it, I know what the tournament is and isn't meant to represent, and follow it out of interest in the Canadian team but there is almost nonexistent interest or awareness of it even among other NHL fans unless it happens to be on at a sports bar at lunch.

When the McDavids and Crosbys show up, people definitely are more interested even if it isn't the A team. When you have absolutely zero star power, it's not moving the needle at all.

IIHF needs to stop giving these small countries hosting rights TBH and should prioritize bigger cities and countries. I don't know how the finances work and whether the organization makes more money doing this but Latvia should not be hosting, and even pre-war neither should Belarus. There's zero appeal for players to come. Finland shouldn't really be hosting either. Few players really want to go to Finland in May. Definitely Slovenia and Kazakhstan should be a million miles away from hosting ever if they were considered, guaranteed we'd get Canada's, USA's and Sweden's Z teams to go to that.

Why the hell is Latvia and Finland hosting THREE of these tournaments in a row? And then Slovakia before that, WTH. That's four totally uninteresting countries from a typical rich NHLer's perspective. This is not a slight on those countries, I would absolutely love to visit all of them before I kick the bucket, but this is not what the WAGs of Tavares, Point, Makar, MacKinnon, Scheifele or Hall want to be doing or going to. Nor the players themselves.

If it's a pipe dream to hold it in Canada or the US, they should put these tournaments in Copenhagen, or Paris, London, Milan, Prague, Frankfurt, Geneva, Zurich, Munich, Stockholm, Vienna etc. and you will have players show up. Their families may come. It's something interesting to do and go to. It's seen as totally safe. The kids and wives will have a fantastic time shopping and going to sights.

ESPECIALLY with the spectre of the Russian war they should not be held in any former USSR countries, players just don't have interest voluntarily going near there. I guarantee if this tournament was in Paris or Munich you'd have at least a dozen more big names show up.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

I really hope Finland doesn't get to host these for atleast another 10 years. The ridiculous prices kill the atmosphere. Foreign fans dont want to come and pay these prices. Average attentance is super low compared to other tournaments (just look at the attendances in Germany, Czechia and even Paris couple years ago, wow!).

And the Finnish ice hockey federation have sold hundreds of tickets to companies and not for real fans. The company workers just sit quiet in the crowd. For Finland this tournament is just a way to make some free money, not a way to make fans happy.

And also it seems that for some reason the star players dont want to come a tournament in Finland.

Also the current playing format is a joke. I dont understand what was the problem in the previous format that was used until 2011 i think. It felt that then every game mattered.

WC 2015 in Prague/Ostrava was absolutely magical, stacked up Russians and Canadians and it was really hard to buy ticket, attendance was MASSIVE. We ended up in semis, but we played the best looking offensive hockey i´ve seen for a long long time under Růžička, but our goaltending and defense sucked a** lol, classic.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Well, Canada won the biggest relegation candidates 5:2 and 5:1 this year which are the kind of scores we also see in the Stanley Cup playoffs rather frequently. Germany meanwhile is eight points behind Denmark (who beat Canada last year) after the first three games, albeit with a more difficult schedule.

Closeness of games isn't what is going to make Latvia vs. Norway an interesting matchup imo.

Why the hell is Latvia and Finland hosting THREE of these tournaments in a row? And then Slovakia before that, WTH. That's four totally uninteresting countries from a typical rich NHLer's perspective. This is not a slight on those countries, I would absolutely love to visit all of them before I kick the bucket, but this is not what the WAGs of Tavares, Point, Makar, MacKinnon, Scheifele or Hall want to be doing or going to. Nor the players themselves.

probably because those are the places bidding on it, I'm sure they'd love if New York City ever wanted to have the thing, but they aren't interested

 

[jj cale]

I'm going to say it and I'm aware that it's going to get immense backlash but as someone who has followed this tourney for 15 plus years it's baffling we get any coverage of it in Canada. I like it, I know what the tournament is and isn't meant to represent, and follow it out of interest in the Canadian team but there is almost nonexistent interest or awareness of it even among other NHL fans unless it happens to be on at a sports bar at lunch.

When the McDavids and Crosbys show up, people definitely are more interested even if it isn't the A team. When you have absolutely zero star power, it's not moving the needle at all.

IIHF needs to stop giving these small countries hosting rights TBH and should prioritize bigger cities and countries. I don't know how the finances work and whether the organization makes more money doing this but Latvia should not be hosting, and even pre-war neither should Belarus. There's zero appeal for players to come. Finland shouldn't really be hosting either. Few players really want to go to Finland in May. Definitely Slovenia and Kazakhstan should be a million miles away from hosting ever if they were considered, guaranteed we'd get Canada's, USA's and Sweden's Z teams to go to that.

Why the hell is Latvia and Finland hosting THREE of these tournaments in a row? And then Slovakia before that, WTH. That's four totally uninteresting countries from a typical rich NHLer's perspective. This is not a slight on those countries, I would absolutely love to visit all of them before I kick the bucket, but this is not what the WAGs of Tavares, Point, Makar, MacKinnon, Scheifele or Hall want to be doing or going to. Nor the players themselves.

If it's a pipe dream to hold it in Canada or the US, they should put these tournaments in Copenhagen, or Paris, London, Milan, Prague, Frankfurt, Geneva, Zurich, Munich, Stockholm, Vienna etc. and you will have players show up. Their families may come. It's something interesting to do and go to. It's seen as totally safe. The kids and wives will have a fantastic time shopping and going to sights.

ESPECIALLY with the spectre of the Russian war they should not be held in any former USSR countries, players just don't have interest voluntarily going near there. I guarantee if this tournament was in Paris or Munich you'd have at least a dozen more big names show up.

It is a pipe dream to hold them on a fairly regular basis in Canada but to have them host only once in decades pretty much assures it will never gain traction here.

Still it's a pretty black eye on the IIHF to think a country with the greatest stature in hockey has only hosted once, it's pretty incredible when you think of it.

The Maritimes should put in a bid I guess the bids are just too high from the European countries, the IIHF, same as the NHL, goes for the cash bottom line. They are not an altruistic governing body no matter what some fans tell you.

 

[WarriorofTime]

With next year being in Prague, I don't care what anyone says, they need to have Russia back in it. That could potentially be a really good tournament as I'm guessing you will get good attendance out of NHL players. So it's more imperative than ever to have as many competitive teams as possible. The downstream effect of no Russia creates a lot of problems in terms of the number of uninteresting matchups

 

[jj cale]

With next year being in Prague, I don't care what anyone says, they need to have Russia back in it. That could potentially be a really good tournament as I'm guessing you will get good attendance out of NHL players. So it's more imperative than ever to have as many competitive teams as possible. The downstream effect of no Russia creates a lot of problems in terms of the number of uninteresting matchups

Getting them back sooner rather then later is surely better for international hockey, difficult to settle it in this climate though.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Still it's a pretty black eye on the IIHF to think a country with the greatest stature in hockey has only hosted once, it's pretty incredible when you think of it.

Do you think they're putting a bid in and just not getting accepted? I doubt it. Look at the bids for 2027 for instance (IIHF - Three applicants for 2027)

Germany, Kazakhstan and Norway

Also for the guy complaining... Prague, Stockholm and Zurich are hosting the next three tournaments. All of which made it onto that guy's "desirable city" list. I think this year is just particularly bad because let's face it, Tampere, Finland is not high on anybody's summer vacation list.

 

[jj cale]

Do you think they're putting a bid in and just not getting accepted? I doubt it. Look at the bids for 2027 for instance (IIHF - Three applicants for 2027)

Germany, Kazakhstan and Norway

Also for the guy complaining... Prague, Stockholm and Zurich are hosting the next three tournaments. All of which made it onto that guy's "desirable city" list. I think this year is just particularly bad because let's face it, Tampere, Finland is not high on anybody's summer vacation list.

They aren't putting in bids, but they might not be able to compete with the numbers the Europeans are giving the IIHF and probably know it.

 

[jcbio11]

I'm going to say it and I'm aware that it's going to get immense backlash but as someone who has followed this tourney for 15 plus years it's baffling we get any coverage of it in Canada. I like it, I know what the tournament is and isn't meant to represent, and follow it out of interest in the Canadian team but there is almost nonexistent interest or awareness of it even among other NHL fans unless it happens to be on at a sports bar at lunch.

When the McDavids and Crosbys show up, people definitely are more interested even if it isn't the A team. When you have absolutely zero star power, it's not moving the needle at all.

IIHF needs to stop giving these small countries hosting rights TBH and should prioritize bigger cities and countries. I don't know how the finances work and whether the organization makes more money doing this but Latvia should not be hosting, and even pre-war neither should Belarus. There's zero appeal for players to come. Finland shouldn't really be hosting either. Few players really want to go to Finland in May. Definitely Slovenia and Kazakhstan should be a million miles away from hosting ever if they were considered, guaranteed we'd get Canada's, USA's and Sweden's Z teams to go to that.

Why the hell is Latvia and Finland hosting THREE of these tournaments in a row? And then Slovakia before that, WTH. That's four totally uninteresting countries from a typical rich NHLer's perspective. This is not a slight on those countries, I would absolutely love to visit all of them before I kick the bucket, but this is not what the WAGs of Tavares, Point, Makar, MacKinnon, Scheifele or Hall want to be doing or going to. Nor the players themselves.

If it's a pipe dream to hold it in Canada or the US, they should put these tournaments in Copenhagen, or Paris, London, Milan, Prague, Frankfurt, Geneva, Zurich, Munich, Stockholm, Vienna etc. and you will have players show up. Their families may come. It's something interesting to do and go to. It's seen as totally safe. The kids and wives will have a fantastic time shopping and going to sights.

ESPECIALLY with the spectre of the Russian war they should not be held in any former USSR countries, players just don't have interest voluntarily going near there. I guarantee if this tournament was in Paris or Munich you'd have at least a dozen more big names show up.

I don't even know where to start with this post. Hockey fans in Europe travel for this championship, it's a tradition.

This tourney needs to first and foremost attract European fans. Your post is from the point of view of Crosby's wife I guess?

FYI Czech Republic and Slovakia are highly regarded as a hockey WCH destination among the international hockey fans. Paris meanwhile held one of these and it was widely considered to be one of the worst ever in recent memory. Fan atmosphere and fan culture are a big part of these events.

What exactly Soviet countries do you mean? There's only Latvia and Kazachstan in the top pool.

 

[jcbio11]

With next year being in Prague, I don't care what anyone says, they need to have Russia back in it. That could potentially be a really good tournament as I'm guessing you will get good attendance out of NHL players. So it's more imperative than ever to have as many competitive teams as possible. The downstream effect of no Russia creates a lot of problems in terms of the number of uninteresting matchups

Nah. They can continue playing their superseries vs Belarus next year for all I care. Maybe the two grandpas who've been in charge for decades there will also get a roster spot and make MVP, as is tradition.

You do know they already officially announced Russia and Belarus are banned from next year's tourney?

 

[WarriorofTime]

Nah. They can continue playing their superseries vs Belarus next year for all I care. Maybe the two grandpas who've been in charge for decades there will also get a roster spot and make MVP, as is tradition.

You do know they already officially announced Russia and Belarus are banned from next year's tourney?

There is still time to change that.

 

[Albatros]

Closeness of games isn't what is going to make Latvia vs. Norway an interesting matchup imo.

I understand why it's not all too appealing to everyone, sure, but it's an important match for the quarterfinals so there definitely is something even for neutral fans to enjoy.

 

[Albatros]

They aren't putting in bids, but they might not be able to compete with the numbers the Europeans are giving the IIHF and probably know it.

The organizer fee was about 1,4 million euros (ca. 2,1 million CAD) as of last year. That's significantly less than what Hockey Canada pays for the World Juniors (normally 6 million CAD, reduced to 3 million during the pandemic).

 

[ViD]

Nah. They can continue playing their superseries vs Belarus next year for all I care. Maybe the two grandpas who've been in charge for decades there will also get a roster spot and make MVP, as is tradition.

You do know they already officially announced Russia and Belarus are banned from next year's tourney?

The sad thing is Slovakia manages to be bad even without Russia and Belarus in the competition, maybe Canada and USA can withdraw from a tournament which they don’t care about so that Slovakia at least makes it into the semis .

Lack of Russia really hurts international hockey in my view. Especially considering the historical links between Canada and Russia as hockey rivals.

I’m not going to get into any politics of it, but as someone who has a thorough knowledge and understanding of international hockey the truth is without Russia playing international events have far less significance.

I always viewed hockey as a form of diplomacy between Canada and Russia as the hockey between our two nations is always fantastic. It created a kind of special bond between our countries as historical rivals. The game substantially advanced due to this.

Thank you for a drop of sanity here

 

[kp61c]

16 teams seems a bit too much. Finns fleecing everyone and their dog and an endless parade of meaningless games is a bad combination.

 

[jcbio11]

The sad thing is Slovakia manages to be bad even without Russia and Belarus in the competition, maybe Canada and USA can withdraw from a tournament which they don’t care about so that Slovakia at least makes it into the semis .


Thank you for a drop of sanity here

I mean sure.

Russia is simply a no go now.

 

[member 305909]

Some people in Finland can still remember times when Finland got eliminated before the final. How many people cared who won such a tournament? Very few. People rather enjoyed beautiful spring weather rather than watched games which didn't include Finland.

I guess the same goes for the other countries as well.