The warm weather in Edmonton looks set to continue well into next week. That’s not a good thing for the youth World Cup crowd numbers.
- Kummola thinks that the hot weather will keep the public away from the hall.
- Canada will host the World Youth Championship again in December.
The World Cup tournament for under-20s is suffering from a bad loss of audience. An example is the first two matches of the home team Canada.
The opening game against Latvia drew only 2,779 spectators to the stands at Rogers Place. In the second game, Canada crushed Slovakia, without Juraj Slafkovsky, 11-1, in front of a crowd of 3,206.
It has been around 30 degrees in Edmonton throughout the entire preliminary tournament. Canadians are on vacation and spending time on beautiful lake shores and golf courses.
– This is not ice hockey season in Canada. It’s full summer there, thinks the former chairman of the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation, Kalervo Kummola.
We are looking for explanations
Kalervo Kummola has decades of experience in international hockey tournaments. JAAKKO STENROOS / AOP
Several different factors have been offered in the sports media of different countries as the reason for the audience loss. Among other things, the fact that seven age group stars are missing and Russia is gone.
The organization organizing the tournament, the Canadian Hockey Federation (Hockey Canada), is shaken by two different exploitation scandals.
One dates back to 2003 and the other to 2018.
– The issues of the Canadian federation hardly affect the audience numbers. Yes, it is this summer time and warm weather. The Canadian federation knows how to take ass net from these games, Kummola continues to Iltalehti.
Ice hockey only in the fall
Kummola, the long-time vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, or IIHF, is right that Canada does not play professional ice hockey in August. And not to watch.
While in Finland people wonder about the events of the Lace Tournament already at the beginning of August and the league teams are planning practice games, in Canada the professional puck season starts at the end of September. Or October, actually. That’s when the NHL starts.
Coming soon
Weak audience numbers have not yet been an official topic of discussion in the lead-up to the Youth World Cup tournament.
– There has been no talk of ticket sales in the directorate yet. Maybe this is where the media around the world gets a little excited, says Nuorten Leijonien’s general manager Kimmo Oikarinen For Iltalehti.
– We will probably talk about it at the next directorate meeting. Then we will know more, Oikarinen continues.
In December again
Lots of empty benches can be seen at Edmonton’s Rogers Place as Finland celebrates Kasper Puutio’s goal. AOP
Canada will host the under-20 World Cup tournament again at the right time, i.e. at the end of December. Then the venue will be Halifax on the east coast.
Tickets for the games are already selling fast. There is no NHL team competing for spectators in Halifax.
There has also been a rumor in Edmonton that plans were being made behind the scenes to move the Halifax tournament to another country. The matter remains at the level of a rumor.
– The Canadian federation has an agreement with the IIHF. Those agreements are not easily broken. That tournament will generate money again.
– Before the games started to be held in Canada, the International Ice Hockey Federation had to pay when these tournaments were organized, Kummola reminds.
Heavy audience numbers
According to the Sportsnet channel, the average number of spectators at tournaments organized in Canada has risen from 6,600 pairs of eyes to around 14,000 spectators in two decades.
For comparison: the average number of spectators for World Cup tournaments played in Europe is between 2,000 and 7,000.
Canadians are still interested in junior hockey. Although August 2022 might be an exception to that.
Finland’s next match is against Slovakia on Sunday at 21:00.