WC: in 2 countries

[Bakayoko Ono]

They just tried to buy some time for the Tampere arena project by splitting the 12&13 WHCs between Finland and Sweden. Tampere, with its shiny new arena(aka Kummola's Mausoleum), was supposed to be the Finnish host city of the 2013 tournament.

...but I don't think it's a big deal. The distance between Bratislava and Kosice - the host cities of the 2011 tournament - is about 300km and the distance between Helsinki and Stockholm is 400km.

 

[tikkanen5rings*]

These WC games are by far worst I've witnessed.

 

[Zat]

then this is really the most Pejorative Slured thing ever. makes no sense whatsoever.

Yeah, it pretty much doesn't work in practice. How this mess came to be, though, was as Finland and Sweden were about to get consecutive tournaments, 2012 and '13, and somebody up there was like, hey, we should split the two tournaments among each other and make more money out of it, both of us. In other words they got too greedy. But the IIHF consented and here we are.

I hope the hockey federation men consider this experiment a failure just like we normal people do.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Speak for yourself! I'd choose a place in Euros/World Cup everyday rather than a gold in IIHF tournament. Olympic Gold in Hockey and qualificiation in footy would be pretty much equal.

Well, me too and I'd assume most of the Finns do. But the the fact is that we are NOT competing at Euro Cup or World Cup in football because we simply suck at it, and as long as it remains to be so (read: forever), hockey world championships generate more attention among general public in Finland.

 

[Henkka]

Makes no sense. There are teams that will have to play round robin in both years in the country that doesn't have the medal round, so they have to travel twice if they advance. Some other teams would have to move only once or not at all.

I don't understand what you are saying. Nobody is travelling twice. The quarterfinals were inside the groups, after that everybody plays at Finland. So nobody from group Finland did travel to Sweden and then back to Finland.

 

[QnebO]

Well, me too and I'd assume most of the Finns do. But the the fact is that we are NOT competing at Euro Cup or World Cup in football because we simply suck at it, and as long as it remains to be so (read: forever), hockey world championships generate more attention among general public in Finland.

Just getting into Wolrd Cup or Euro cup just to lose for everyone would not be worth of olympic gold, not even close.. Winning the pretournament preliminary-games and getting into those tournaments would not probably occur very big reactions, even the WC gold is greater imo.

Winning WC gold in football would probably be in another dimension compared to hockey gold, thought.

 

[zorz]

I don't understand what you are saying. Nobody is travelling twice. The quarterfinals were inside the groups, after that everybody plays at Finland. So nobody from group Finland did travel to Sweden and then back to Finland.

I mean twice in 2 years. Now from Stockholm to Helsinki and in 2013 from Helsinki to Stockholm.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Just getting into Wolrd Cup of Euro cup just to lose for everyone would not be worth of olympic gold, not even close.. Winning the pretournament preliminary-games and getting into those tournaments would not probably occur very big reactions, even the WC gold is greater imo.

I don't know man. I would imagine qualifying into World Cup or even Euro Cup would generate a much bigger buzz in Finland than winning Olympic gold in hockey. Not to mention the difference of what type of impact they would have on the respective sports in Finland. The former would draw a lot more Finnish football fans, a number that is quite limited compared to the number of hockey fans.

 

[tikkanen5rings*]

this is utter ******** and we both know it.

 

[zorz]

I don't know man. I would imagine qualifying into World Cup or even Euro Cup would generate a much bigger buzz in Finland than winning Olympic gold in hockey. Not to mention the difference of what type of impact they would have on the respective sports in Finland. The former would draw a lot more Finnish football fans, a number that is quite limited compared to the number of hockey fans.

really? I have hard time to believe that. It's hard to imagine all country partying on the streets jsut because of qualifying to World Cup. With Olympic gold, that would happen for sure.

 

[LSnow]

really? I have hard time to believe that. It's hard to imagine all country partying on the streets jsut because of qualifying to World Cup. With Olympic gold, that would happen for sure.

Well, just as much we like hockey, we like soccer.. And other one is a possibility and other one is a fantasy..

 

[tikkanen5rings*]

really? I have hard time to believe that. It's hard to imagine all country partying on the streets jsut because of qualifying to World Cup. With Olympic gold, that would happen for sure.

It's ********.
15% of Finland would care.
Finland doesn't give a flying **** about soccer.

 

[LSnow]

It's ********.
15% of Finland would care.
Finland doesn't give a flying **** about soccer.

Not really true, compared to WHC true, but for SM-liga or NHL?

What i mean we wont know how big soccer "WHC" would be..

 

[Sanderson]

Two hosts is really useless. I didn't like this idea in football and it isn't any better in hockey. If rather small countries like Austria or Latvia can do a good job hosting such a tournament, there isn't a reason why two countries should host.

As for the shared German/French application for the 2017 tournament, I can understand why it's done but I don't really like it. As far as I know, Germany planned to apply for a tournament around that time and France was interested in hosting a tournament as well. Thinking that they wouldn't get the tournament on their own against the likely competition, France looked for someone to co-host the tournament, and who would be a more obvious choice than the direct neighbour who was also interested in staging the tournament?

 

[Joe MacMillan]

really? I have hard time to believe that. It's hard to imagine all country partying on the streets jsut because of qualifying to World Cup. With Olympic gold, that would happen for sure.

Yeah, it isn't too far fetched to imagine there would be a huge party going on on the streets of Helsinki if our national team pulled a huge upset and clinches a spot at World Cup or Euro Cup.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

It's ********.
15% of Finland would care.
Finland doesn't give a flying **** about soccer.

Voice of an insecure hockey fan.

 

[Zat]

I don't know man. I would imagine qualifying into World Cup or even Euro Cup would generate a much bigger buzz in Finland than winning Olympic gold in hockey. Not to mention the difference of what type of impact they would have on the respective sports in Finland. The former would draw a lot more Finnish football fans, a number that is quite limited compared to the number of hockey fans.

Yeah, I don't agree at all. Qualifying for the World Cup would definitely not be not bigger than Finland winning an Olympic Gold. It's hard for me to even fathom how you could say so, knowing how clear #1 sport hockey still is in Finland. A qualifying would obviously be A Big Thing and dramatically increase the popularity of soccer here, but nope, compared to winning gold, it's not even close.

 

[QnebO]

Well, just as much we like hockey, we like soccer.. And other one is a possibility and other one is a fantasy..

That kind of peoples movement and celebrations would never happen for only qualifying... It would just feel stupid for everyone celebrating. "Hooray, we finally actually qualified to the actual tournament.."

It would be great thing, but the actual sweet would be the tournament itself, not the qualifcations or victory on them.

 

[tikkanen5rings*]

Voice of an insecure hockey fan.

what do you mean?
Are you denying the fact that no-one cares about soccer in Finland?

 

[tikkanen5rings*]

Not really true, compared to WHC true, but for SM-liga or NHL?

What i mean we wont know how big soccer "WHC" would be..

I can respect thus.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Yeah, I don't agree at all. Qualifying for the World Cup would definitely not be not bigger than Finland winning an Olympic Gold. It's hard for me to even fathom how you could say so, knowing how clear #1 sport hockey still is in Finland. A qualifying would obviously be A Big Thing and dramatically increase the popularity of soccer here, but nope, compared to winning gold, it's not even close.

Hockey is #1 because it's the sport we've continually had success in comparison to football, but lets not pretend as if football is non-existent in Finland. The upcoming EC is already generating excitement among football fans even though Finland, as always, is not playing. If they did, I would expect the same excitement to be spread all over in general public creating a huge buzz.

Yeah, "only" qualifying into a tournament may seem less tempting compared to winning the whole thing, but lets not forget that the prestige of WC is much bigger than that of Olympics. I don't see how it is a stretch to expect the impact to be at least comparable between winning gold in Olympics and qualifying into WC or EC.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

what do you mean?
Are you denying the fact that no-one cares about soccer in Finland?

Yes. Saying there are no football fans in Finland is as inaccurate as it comes.

 

[Zat]

At least when the European Championship tournament gets expanded from 16 to 24 countries for 2016, qualifying for that should not be such an overwhelming task even for Finland.

I am certain Finland will even get into the World Cup some year down the line and it will be pretty sweet.

 

[teris]

Makes no sense. There are teams that will have to play round robin in both years in the country that doesn't have the medal round, so they have to travel twice if they advance. Some other teams would have to move only once or not at all.

Some teams have to travel and others don't, that has always been the case unless it's just one city hosting, having the tournament co-hosted by two countries changes nothing here. I don't think that it was ever given any consideration that one team traveled this year, lets have their group play in the main arena next year. Stockholm-Helsinki is apparently a 45 minute flight so the time spent travelling is insignificant. Moving equipment and switching hotels is the main issue I guess but again it's the same thing between two cities inside one country.

The second thing is that it can happen (and will happen) that some team will play round robin games in the same country in both years, which means the people in the other country won't have chance to see that team live at all despite of the fact they are holding WC.

Nothing is stopping people from travelling to the other hosting country if they really want to see certain teams.

And the third thing is interest - I've heard from several sides that for example Swedes don't care so much, because they say the next year is their home WC, this is in Finland's.

While I haven't heard of it this way, I do think next year won't be quite this special since we just saw our teams play at home this year.

What's the point then? Somebody told me it's because of money that national hockey federation can save if it shares the tournament with other federation. That is hard for me to understand, because they maybe save some money, but they also have less profit, because half of the games are played somewhere else, so what's the point? I don't see any real benefits.

To sum it up it's totally pointless to have WC in 2 countries and it shouldn't be repeated after 2013. Some thoughts?

After the completion of both tournaments, both countries will have hosted the medal round once but the group of the home team twice and all games can be played at the country's biggest arena. Of course this brings in more money.

 

[Tissotti]

It's ********.
15% of Finland would care.
Finland doesn't give a flying **** about soccer.

You are kidding me. Just look at the interest for World Cup or CL and that's with no Finnish player or team. Look at Finland's crappy national team and full Olympic arena. Football is in a another level when it comes to importance. We just suck on it and that's why it has not steamrolled over hockey here.
Though this is off topic.

I agree about this being silly idea. Especially about the groups not splitting earlier on. Thing is that Kummola already said on some interview that there is certainly more talks about this joint tournaments. Granted, it could be interesting with some smaller hockey countries.
Let France hold the tournament with somebody and i will go watch those games.